mm 


''"'"'"HtRS"  Of 


t\hv<xvy  of  Ithe  theological  ^eminarjp 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 

FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 
ROBERT  ELLIOTT  SPEER 


BX  6333  .M365  C6 
Maclaren,  Alexander,  182b- 

1910.  . 

The  conquering  Christ 


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^€>i— 


{pxtac^tve  of  t^t  @5e 


ALEXANDER    MACLAREN,    D.D. 


a — 2 


(AAji,.<k:/:  Uy(/^a 


(xAj^^k- 


//^ 


JAN  12    1959 

THE    CONQUERING   CHRIST 


a:;d 


OTHER    SERMONS 


BY 

ALEXANDER    MACLAREN,   D.D. 


NEW   YORK 

E.    P.    BUTTON   &   CO. 

31,     WEST    TWENTY-THIRD    STREET 

1891 


LONDON  : 

PRINTHD   BY   WILLIAM    CLOWES    AND   SONS,    LIMITED, 

STAMFORD   STREET    AND   CHARING   CROSS. 


CONTENTS, 


THE   CONQUERING   CHRIST. 

PAGE 

"  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 

world  !  " — ^JOHN  i.  29. 
"And  I  beheld,  and,  lo,   .  .  .  a  Lamb  as  it  hal  been  slain." — 

Rev.  v.  6      ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...         i 


SPOKEN    NEED,    UNSPOKEN   REQUEST. 

"And  when  they  wanted  wine,  the  mother  of  Jesus  saith  unto 

Him,  They  have  no  wine." — John  ii.  3. 
"  Therefore  his  sisters  sent  unto  Jesus,  saying,  Lord,  behold,  he 

whom  Thou  lovest  is  sick." — John  xi.  3  ...  ...       19 


GLIMPSES    OF   THE   HEART   OF  JESUS. 

''  Being  moved  with  compassion.  He  stretched  forth  His  hand.'' — 
M.\RK  i.  41 


GATHERED   IN    PEACE. 

"Behold,  I  will  gather  thee  to  thy  fathers,  and  thou  shalt  be 
gathered  to  thy  grave  in  peace." — 2  Chron.  xxxiv.  28. 

"The  archers  shot  at  King  Josiah ;  and  the  king  said  unto  his 
servants,  Have  me  away  ;  for  I  am  sore  wounded.  .  .  .  And 
they  brought  him  to  Jerusalem,  and  he  died." — 2  Chron. 
XXXV.  23,  24  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...        51 


VI  CONTENTS. 


SOME   REASONS   WHY   THE    WORD   BECAME 

FLESH. 

PAGE 

"  He  is  not  ashamed  to  call  them  brethren,  saying,  I  will  declare 
Thy  name  unto  My  brethren,  in  the  midst  of  the  Church  will 
I  sing  praise  to  Thee.  And  again,  I  will  put  My  trust  in 
Him.  And  again,  Behold  I  and  the  children  which  God  hath 
given  Me." — Heb.  ii.  11-13      ...  ...  ..  ...       67 

ARMED   RECREANTS. 

''  The  children  of  Ephraim,   being  armed,   and  carrying  bows, 

turned  back  in  the  day  of  battle."— Ps.  Ixxviii.  9  ...       83 

"AN   INCREASING   PURPOSE." 

"  These  all,  having  had  witness  borne  to  them  through  their  faith, 
received  not  the  promise,  God  having  provided  some  better 
thing  concerning  us,  that  they  without  us  should  net  be  made 
perfect." — Heb.  xi.  39,  40  (R.V.)  ...  ...  ...       93 

THE  DEFENCE  OF  THE  DEFENCELESS. 

"Aland  of  unwalled  villages  .  .  .  them  that  are  at  rest,  that 
dwell  safely,  all  of  them  dwelling  without  walls,  and  having 
neither  bars  nor  gates." — EZEK.  xxxviii.  11. 

"Jerusalem  shall  be  inhabited  as  towns  without  walls,  .  .  .  For 
I,  saith  the  Lord,  will  be  unto  her  a  wall  of  fire  round  about, 
and  will  be  the  glory  in  the  midst  of  her." — Zech.  ii.  4,  5  ...      109 

HOW  A   CHURCH   LIVES   AND   GROWS. 

"  From  whom  the  whole  body,  by  joints  and  bands  having  nourish- 
ment ministered  and  knit  together,  increaseth  with  the 
increase  of  God." — Col.  ii.  19  ...  ...  ...     121 

WISE    HASTE. 

"  See  that  ye  hasten  the  matter." — 2  Chrox.  xxiv.  5.  ...     137 


CONTENTS.  vii 


PHASES    OF   FAITH. 

TAGE 


"Many  believed  on  Him.     Then  said  Jesus  to  those  Jews  which 

believed  on  Him  .   .  ." — ^JoHN  viii.  30,  31  ...  ...     147 


TENT   AND   ALTAR. 

"  Abrani  pitched  his  tent,   .   .  .  and  there  he  builded  an  altar." 

— Gen.  xii.  8  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...     161 


THE  FORGIVING   SON   OF   MAN. 

"  That  ye  may  know  that  the  Son  of  man  hath  power  on  earth  to 
forgive  sins,  (then  saith  He  to  the  sick  of  the  palsy,)  Arise, 
take  up  thy  bed,  and  go  unto  thine  house." — Matt.  i.\.  6  ...     173 

CHRIST'S    "VERILY,    VERILY." 
*' Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you." — John  i.  51  ...  ...     iiSg 


THE   CONQUERING  CHRIST. 


B — 2 


THE  CONQUERING  CHRIST. 


"  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
world  !  " — ^JOHN  i.  29. 

"And  I  beheld,  andj  lo,  .  .  .  a  Lamb  as  it  had  been  slain." — 
Rev.  v.  6. 

One  of  the  disciples  of  the  Baptist  who  heard  his  proclama- 
tion of  the  Lamb  of  God  was  John,  afterwards  the  apostle 
and  writer  of  the  Apocalypse.  Long  years  had  passed 
since  that  hour.  The  Baptist  slept  in  a  bloody  grave. 
The  young  fisherman  had  learned  to  know  Jesus  with  a 
larger  knowledge,  and  to  love  Him  with  a  love  more  than 
life.  He  had  found  in  Jesus  depths  which  he  had  little 
dreamed  of,  on  that  day  by  the  fords  of  Jordan ;  and  now, 
in  his  rocky  Patmos,  with  the  waves  dashing  round  him, 
in  a  scene  so  unlike  the  earlier  one,  and  himself  most 
changed  of  all,  the  heavens  were  opened,  and  the  vision 
of  his  Lord  granted  to  him  again.  Is  it  not  beautiful  and 
significant  that  the  words  in  which  he  tells  of  what  he  saw 
through  the  door  opened  in  heaven^  read  like  an  echo  of 
those  spoken  so  long  ago,  and  never  to  be  forgotten? — 
"  Behold  the  Lamb ! "  "  And  I  beheld,  and,  lo,  .  .  .  a 
Lamb  !"  The  word  for  lamb  is,  indeed,  different,  and  in  the 
difference  lies  a  pathetic  and  lovely  lesson ;  for  that  em- 
ployed to  describe  the  heavenly  state  of  the  exalted  Christ 


4  THE  CONQUERING   CHRIST. 

is  humbler  than  that  used  by  the  Baptist,  being  a  diniinutiv^e 
form,  which  we  might  represent  hy  lambkin.  But  the  whole 
ring  of  the  sentence  is  like  that  of  the  original  proclama- 
tion in  the  Gospel.  If  we  further  notice  that  the  fourth 
Gospel  alone  has  preserved  this  testimony  of  the  forerunner, 
and  that  John  alone  of  New  Testament  writers  uses  this  name 
for  Christ,  and  that  it  occurs  in  the  Apocalypse  some 
twenty-five  times,  we  see  how  deeply  his  first  teacher's  words 
had  sunk  into  his  heart,  and  how  constantly,  as  years 
advanced  and  his  experience  widened,  he  had  found  them 
assuming  new  meaning.  Happy  is  it  for  us  if  life  but 
reveals  to  us  the  fulness  which  lies  in  our  earliest  glimpses 
of  Christ,  if  our  old  age  can  repeat  the  creed  of  youth 
with  deepened  significance,  and  if  we  can  hope  that  heaven 
itself  will  but  give  us  a  clearer  vision  of  the  same  Christ, 
in  the  same  character  as  we  had  dimly  seen  Him  amid  the 
confusions  and  sorrows  of  earth  ! 

The  purpose  of  this  sermon  is  to  gather  into  one  view 
the  Apocalyptic  uses  of  this  name  for  Jesus  Christ,  and  thus 
to  try  to  bring  out  the  remarkable  fulness  and  variety  of 
the  representation  of  what  Christ  is  to  men,  thence  deducible. 
We  may  arrange  the  whole  roughly  in  four  classes,  and 
consider  the  teaching  of  the  Apocalypse  as  to  the  slain 
Lamb,  the  enthroned  Lamb,  the  Shepherd-Lamb,  and  the 
Warrior-Lamb. 

L  We  have  first  the  representation  given  in  the  words 
of  our  second  text — the  slain  Lamb,  the  Sin-bearer  for  the 
world. 

If  we  recur  for  a  moment  to  the  testimony  of  the  fore- 
runner, and  try  to  throw  ourselves  back  to  his  standpoint, 
and  to  ask  the  meaning  on  his  lips  of  that  remarkable 
saying,  we  shall  better  understand  the  vision  in  Patmgs, 


THE  CONQUERING  CHRIST.  5 

The  aspect  in  which  Jesus  appeared  to  the  last  of  the  Old 
Testament  prophets  was  necessarily  moulded  by  Old  Testa- 
ment facts,  and  if  we  seek  what  these  may  have  been,  we 
shall  not  go  far  wrong  if  we  point  to  a  triple  source  for 
that  testimony  of  his,  in  the  Lamb  of  history,  the  Lamb 
of  ritual,  and  the  Lamb  of  prophecy. 

As  for  the  first  of  these  three,  recall  the  pathetic  question 
and  answer  which  passed  between  Abraham  and  his  son  as 
they  travelled  to  the  mountain  of  sacrifice.  "  Where  is  the 
lamb  for  the  burnt  offering?"  said  the  unconscious  son, 
bearing  the  wood  for  the  pile.  "  My  son,"  said  the  father — 
and  how  hard  it  must  have  been  to  have  steadied  his  voice 
to  say  it,  and  to  look  the  confidence  which  he  did  not 
feel ! — "  God  Himself  will  provide  the  lamb."  The  despair- 
ing father  was  "  wiser  than  he  knew,"  and  the  event  shamed 
the  little  faith  which  he  had  in  his  own  words.  Surely  that 
utterance,  floating  down  from  the  sacred  past,  helped  to 
shape  the  Baptist's  speech,  and  the  remembrance  of  it 
suggests  the  interpretation  of  the  "  Lamb  of  God,"  as  being 
the  Sacrifice  appointed  and  provided  by  God  Himself. 

Further,  a  second  source,  confluent  with  the  former,  is 
the  Lamb  of  ritual,  whether  the  daily  sacrifice  or  the  Paschal 
lamb.  In  this  connection  it  is  to  be  noted  that  John  in  his 
Gospel  lays  stress  on  the  fact  that,  by  reason  of  the  remark- 
able rapidity  with  which  death  followed  our  Lord's  cruci- 
fixion. His  sacred  body  escaped  the  cruel  indignity  practised 
on  the  two  robbers  to  hasten  their  end.  He  sees  therein 
the  fulfilment  of  the  prescription  concerning  the  Paschal 
sacrifice,  "  a  bone  of  it  shall  not  be  broken,"  and  thus  by 
that  one  passing  allusion  identifies  Jesus  with  the  Passover 
— an  identification  which  is  also  distinctly  asserted  by  our 
Lord  in  His  institution  of  the  Last  Supper. 


6  THE  CONQUERING  CHRIST. 

Further,  we  must  take  into  account  also,  and  perhaps 
chiefly,  the  I^amb  of  prophecy — the  great  picture  of  the  meek 
and  suffering  Servant  of  the  Lord  in  the  second  part  of 
Isaiah.  "  He  was  led  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  as  a 
sheep  before  her  shearers  is  dumb,  so  He  opened  not  His 
mouth."  But  not  meekness  only  was  predicated  of  this 
Sufferer,  but  also  that  in  some  mysterious  fashion  He  should 
"  bear  our  griefs  and  carry  our  sorrows,"  and  that  the  Lord 
should  "  make  to  meet  on  Him  the  iniquity  of  us  all."  The 
coincidence  of  representation  is  too  striking  to  be  fortuitous ; 
and  the  interpretation  of  the  words  of  the  Baptist,  which 
takes  no  account  of  the  words  of  the  prophet,  may  be  ad- 
mired for  its  courage,  but  scarcely  for  its  clear-sightedness. 

If  we  give  due  weight  to  these  three  sources — history, 
ritual,  and  prophecy — we  shall  be  shut  up  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  title  given  by  the  Baptist  to  Jesus  is  a  name  of 
function  rather  than  of  character.  It  is  a  transparently 
inadequate  explanation  to  make  the  name  a  mere  expression 
of  meekness  or  of  innocence.  True,  these  qualities  must 
and  do  attach  to  the  Sacrifice  which  is  to  avail  for  men,  but 
it  is  not  these  qualities,  but  the  fact  of  sacrifice,  which  is 
insisted  upon  in  the  title.  That  is  made  certain  as  having 
been  the  Baptist's  meaning  by  his  own  following  words, 
which  place  the  point  of  comparison  between  Jesus  and 
"  the  lamb  "  in  His  sin-bearing  rather  than  in  His  disposi- 
tion. And  how  strong  and  emphatic  the  description  of  His 
mighty  work  is  !  He  "  taketh  away  "  by  taking  on  Himself. 
The  burden  is  not  "sins,"  but  "sin;"  as  if  all  the  black 
deeds  were  gathered  into  one  huge  mass,  enough  to  crush 
any  shoulders  but  His  on  whom  it  is  laid.  The  universality 
of  His  work  of  bearing,  and  bearing  away  sin,  is  put  in  the 
strongest  form  by  the  addition — "  of  the  world." 


THE  CONQUERING  CHRIST.  7 

So  far  the  Baptist  carries  us.  John  had  heard  and 
dimly  understood  his  words.  But  much  had  happened 
since  then  to  open  their  depths  to  his  gaze.  He  had  stood 
by  the  cross,  had  seen  his  risen  Lord,  had  received  His 
guiding  Spirit,  had  learned  through  long  years  his  own  and 
the  world's  need,  had  pondered  and  prayed  and  preached 
and  lived,  and  so  had  come  to  know  how  "the  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  cleanseth  from  all  sin."  Therefore,  with  whatever 
sacrifice  of  congruity  of  metaphor,  the  vision  which  he  sees 
when  heaven  opens  is  "a  Lamb  as  it  had  been  slain." 
Whatever  may  be  said  about  other  points  of  comparison  as 
being  present  in  the  Baptist's  use  of  the  emblem,  the 
sacrificial  import  of  the  vision  in  Revelation  is  settled  by 
that  one  expression.  "As  it  had  been  slain"  leaves  no 
doubt  that  Christ's  death,  and  nothing  else,  is  in  the  seer's 
mind ;  and  that  to  that  fact  he  would  lead  us  as  the  centre- 
point  of  all  else  which  we  can  know  about  Him,  and  as  the 
foundation  of  all  that  He  has  further  to  reveal  of  His  glory 
and  power. 

That  symbolical  representation  is  a  vivid  and  pic- 
turesque way  of  saying  that,  in  heaven  as  on  earth,  Christ's 
sacrifice  is  efficacious  and  necessary.  Much  besides  may 
be  contained  in  the  symbol,  but  this  is  plainly  its  lesson, 
that  there  is  no  heaven  nor  any  cleansing  but  through  the 
blood  of  the  slain  Lamb.  For  earth  and  heaven,  to  the  last 
moment  of  time  and  all  through  the  dateless  cycles  of 
eternity,  Christ's  sacrifice  is  men's  need,  and  is  present 
before  the  throne  as  the  medium  of  all  blessings  to  sinners 
here  who  struggle  to  be  saints,  and  to  saints  there  who  were 
sinners.  Purity,  peace,  life,  and  all  other  Divine  gifts,  are 
ours  and  theirs,  because  the  "  Lamb  as  it  had  been  slain  "  is 
before  the  throne.     "  This  Man,  when  He  had  offered  one 


8  THE  CONQUERING  CHRIST. 

sacrifice  for  sins  for  ever,  sat  down  on  the  right  hand  of  the 
throne  of  God." 

This  is  the  aspect  of  Christ  with  which  we  must  begin, 
if  we  would  know  Him  in  the  full  greatness  of  His  gifts 
and  sweep  of  His  work.  Unless  we  do,  we  shall  have  but 
an  unworthy  conception  of  His  wondrous  love  and  an 
inadequate  estimate  of  His  all-healing  power.  The  Chris- 
tianity which  strikes  out  the  sacrifice  on  the  cross  from  its 
idea  of  Jesus  has  not  fathomed  the  depths  of  His  mercy 
nor  of  our  need.  The  wounds  of  humanity  are  not  to  be 
stanched  by  one  who  is  but  a  meek  and  pure  pattern  man, 
however  stimulating  and  lovable  such  a  figure  may  be,  but 
need  for  their  binding  up  a  wounded  hand.  A  Christ 
without  a  cross  is  an  impotent  Christ.  He  can  neither 
bless  nor  sway.  It  used  to  be  believed  that  adamant  was 
soluble  only  by  the  blood  of  a  kid.  The  adamantine  heart 
is  melted  by  nothing  else  than  by  the  sacrifice  of  that 
unblemished  and  spotless  Lamb.  Take  away  that  figure 
from  the  vision  of  the  future,  and  the  vision  itself  melts 
into  mist,  and  instead  of  the  solid  certainties  of  a  real  and 
accessible  home  of  all  blessedness  and  perfection,  there 
remains  but  a  great  Perhaps,  shimmering  uncertainly  in  the 
vapour,  and  in  our  hearts  the  aching  doubt  of  its  reality 
and  of  our  power  to  reach  it,  if  real  it  be. 

II.  A  second  group  of  passages  presents  the  enthroned 
Lamb. 

The  vision  from  which  our  second  text  comes  shows 
the  Lamb  between  the  throne  and  the  ring  of  worshippers, 
and  in  other  places  of  the  Apocalypse  we  read  of  "  the  Lamb 
in  the  midst  of  the  throne,"  and,  still  more  remarkably,  of 
"  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb,"  as  if  joint  possessors 
of  the  one  seat  of  majesty.     These  are  but  symbolical  ways 


THE   CONQUERING  CHRIST.  9 

of  proclaiming  the  truth  that  the  cross  leads  to  the  crown, 
that  the  dominion  of  Jesus  is  founded  upon  His  suffering 
and  death,  that  the  many  crowns  which  He  wears  are  His 
by  right  of  His  having  worn  the  crown  of  thorns.  That 
Divine  Word,  which  became  flesh  for  our  sakes,  returned  to 
the  glory  which  had  been  its  home  before  the  world  was ; 
but  it  bore  a  new  companion  with  it — even  the  humanity 
which  it  assumed,  and  which  died  for  our  salvation.  Man- 
hood is  exalted  to  the  sovereign  place  in  the  universe. 
The  slain  Lamb  is  the  enthroned  Lamb.  This  vision  brings 
clearly  into  view  the  activity  of  Jesus  in  His  heavenly  state, 
as  well  as  His  sovereign  exaltation.  For  the  ground  plan 
of  the  universe  is  contained  in  it.  In  the  centre  rises  the 
throne.  Round  it  afar  off  are  gathered  the  living  creatures, 
the  representatives  of  the  fulness  of  creatural  life ;  and  the 
elders,  the  representatives  of  redeemed  humanity ;  and 
between  these  and  the  throne  stands  the  slain  Lamb, 
through  whom  all  communications  between  the  throne 
and  the  worshippers  pass.  By  Him  all  blessings  flow  out, 
and  by  Him  all  praise  rises  up.  "  By  Him  all  things 
consist."  By  Him  the  creatures  receive  their  meat  accord- 
ing to  their  hunger  and  capacity.  By  Him  redeemed  man- 
hood receives  all  its  graces  and  hopes.  He  is  the  Channel 
of  all  good,  and  bestows  all  fulness  on  an  else  empty  world. 
He  is  the  Medium  by  which  thanksgiving,  devotion,  aspira- 
tion, hope,  dare  to  clasp  the  else^inaccessible  seat  of  God. 

Nor  is  this  the  only  thought  enforced  by  the  vision,  for 
its  subsequent  part  tells  how  this  throned  Lamb  took  into 
His  hand  the  book  with  seven  seals,  and  as  He  broke  them 
one  by  one,  set  loose  as  it  were  the  mighty  forces  which 
were  to  mould  the  world's  destiny.  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Lord 
of  history.     The  hand  that  was  pierced  on  the  cross  holds 


lO  THE   CONQUERING   CHRIST. 

the  helm.  The  voice  which  cried,  "It  is  finished!"  says 
to  His  servants,  who  ride  upon  the  mysterious  horses  of  the 
vision,  "  Go  ! "  and  they  go  on  their  errand  of  woe  or  glad- 
ness. He  is  the  King  of  nations.  Do  we  not  see  that,  in 
spite  of  all  the  talk  about  Christ  having  done  His  part  and 
Christianity  being  worn  out,  the  principles  and  powers  that 
spring  from  His  cross  are  more  and  more  becoming  the 
guides  of  the  "  civilized  "  world  ?  Much  of  the  evidence  of 
His  rule  is  plain  to  all  who  are  not  blinded  by  antagonism 
and  prejudice,  and  the  fact  of  His  rule  should  be  the  un- 
alterable conviction  of  every  Christian  soul,  for  its  own 
peace  amid  noisy  rebellion.  But  we  need  purged  eyes  to 
see  that  great  sight  which  John  saw  in  Patmos. 

It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  for  the  vigour  of  Christian 
life  to  keep  clear  and  vivid  that  present  activity  of  our 
Lord.  We  have  not  only  to  look  back  to  His  cross,  but 
upwards  to  His  throne.  We  have  not  only  to  rejoice  that 
He  was  wounded  for  a  world's  transgressions,  and  to  adore 
Him  who  was  slain  for  us,  but  to  think  of  Him  as  at  the 
right  hand  of  God,  ready  to  help  and  royal  to  defend  all 
who  love  Him.  The  nobleness,  peacefulness,  and  strength 
of  our  lives  largely  depend  upon  our  having  that  vision  of 
the  enthroned  Jesus  ever  before  us.  It  will  give  substance 
and  nearness  to  the  else  shadowy  and  remote  thoughts  of 
heaven,  if  we  feel  that  He  is  actually  there  in  the  manhood 
which  is  ours,  and  actually  wielding  the  energies  of  omni- 
potence on  behalf  of  our  feebleness  and  for  effecting  the 
mighty  purposes  of  His  death.  The  distant  land  is  more 
real  and  less  distant  when  one  dear  vision  fills  it,  and  our 
Brother  is  known  to  be  there.  We  shall  have  more  vivid 
conceptions  of  Him,  when  our  thoughts  are  not  only  directed 
to  Him  as  to  an  historical  figure  in  the  past  centuries,  but 


THE  CONQUERING  CHRIST.  II 

embrace  Him  as  at  this  moment  working  for  the  comple- 
tion of  that  great  work,  which,  though  in  one  aspect  it  was 
"  finished  "  when  He  bowed  His  head  and  died,  in  another 
will  not  be  completed  till  the  voice  from  heaven  proclaims, 
"  It  is  done.  The  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  become  the 
kingdom  of  our  God  and  of  His  Christ." 

It  is  difficult  to  keep  that  vision  clear  before  our  eyes, 
amid  our  low  cares  and  sense-bound  thinkings.  But  how 
small  and  poor  the  noise  of  Ephesus  and  the  storms  of 
persecution  would  seem  to  John,  when  the  heavens  opened 
and  showed  him  the  throned  Christ !  There  is  no  reason 
why  that  sight  should  not  bless  us  as  really  as  it  blessed 
him.  He  saw  "  the  things  that  are,"  and  they  are  to-day 
and  for  ever.  It  was  no  transient  splendour  which  he  saw, 
nor  was  he  befooled  by  the  phantasms  of  his  own  imagina- 
tion. To  him  was  granted  but  the  Apocalypse  or  the 
unveiling  of  what  was  always  there,  behind  the  curtain. 
For  us,  too,  it  will  be  drawn  back,  if  we  will.  It  is  but  a 
thin  separating  veil,  which  will  soon  be  rent  asunder,  and 
may  at  any  time  be  drawn  aside,  for  faithful  eyes  to  gaze 
lovingly  on  the  glories  which  it  partially  hides.  How  small 
cares,  and  sorrows,  and  joys,  and  aims  of  this  life  would 
look  if  we  really  saw,  with  the  inward  eye  whose  revela- 
tions are  more  trustworthy  than  those  of  sense,  the  en- 
throned Lamb,  the  Mediator  of  the  fulness  of  God,  and 
the  Arbiter  of  the  fates  of  men  !  If  we  would  purge  our 
vision  from  earthly  stain,  we  too  should  have  it  granted 
to  us  to  see  this  great  sight,  and  to  walk  all  the  day  in  the 
light  of  the  countenance  of  the  present  and  exalted  Christ. 

III.  Another  group  of  passages  gives  the  figure  of  the 
Shepherd-Lamb. 

In  that  tender  description  of  the  perfected  flock  that 


12  THE  CONQUERING  CHRIST. 

came  out  of  great  tribulation,  which  has  solaced  so  many- 
sad  hearts  with  a  glimpse  of  the  blessedness  of  their  dear 
ones  gone,  we  read  that  *'  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst 
of  the  throne  shall  shepherd  them,  and  shall  guide  them 
unto  fountains  of  waters  of  life ; "  and  in  another  vision  we 
hear  of  the  redeemed  as  "following  the  Lamb  whitherso- 
ever He  goeth."  Of  course  the  colouring  of  this  representa- 
tion, like  all  the  symbolism  of  the  Apocalypse,  is  derived 
from  the  Old  Testament,  and  carries  us  back  to  many  a 
sweet  ancient  word  of  psalmist  and  prophet.  Especially  is 
there  an  allusion  in  the  former  of  these  passages  to  the 
words  of  Isa.  xlix.  lo,  and  it  is  noteworthy  that  the  same 
office  which  the  earlier  words  ascribed  to  God  is  here 
unhesitatingly  attributed  in  even  higher  form  to  the  Lamb. 

There  is  a  striking  anomaly,  and  at  first  sight  incon- 
gruity, in  that  daring  symbol,  that  the  Lamb  is  the  Shepherd. 
But  the  reality  underlying  the  symbol  is  that  Jesus  Christ, 
by  His  death,  becomes  the  Guide,  Protector,  and  Nourisher 
of  men.  We  may  perhaps  venture  still  further  to  draw 
from  the  incongruity  of  the  symbol  the  great  truth  that  the 
Leader  of  men  is  one  in  nature  with  the  men  whom  He 
leads.  The  Shepherd  is  Himself  a  Lamb,  and  is  our  Leader 
just  because  He  shares  our  nature.  But  that  is  not  in  the 
intention  of  the  seer,  and  can  only  be  taken  as  a  permissible 
pLiy  of  allusion  on  our  parts. 

We  are  on  firmer  ground  when  we  see  in  this  sweet 
metaphor  the  thought  that  the  Christ  who  died  and  reigns 
is  the  eternal  Pattern  for  us,  whether  on  earth  or  in  the 
calm  perfection  of  Mount  Zion.  Here  we  have  to  go  after 
the  Shepherd  and  Overseer  of  our  souls,  who  has  left  us 
an  example  that  we  should  tread  in  His  steps.  Here  we 
follow  afar  off,  lingering,  straying,  and  all  unfit  to  tread  in 


THE  CONQUERING   CHRIST.  I3 

His  footprints.  There  "  they  shall  follow  the  Lamb  whither- 
soever He  goeth,"  with  complete  imitation,  and  steps  not 
unequal  to  His.  But  for  both  states,  to  follow  Him  is 
blessedness  and  to  be  like  Him  is  perfection.  Nor  shall 
that  future  be  without  advance.  There  will  be  growing 
approximation  to  Him,  a  more  perfect  conformity  to  His 
likeness,  a  fuller  appropriation  of  His  life,  and  an  ever- 
increasing  nearness  to  Him  which  shall  fill  eternity .  with 
freshness,  and  make  its  joys  and  service  ever  new. 

The  symbol  suggests  that  the  slain  and  enthroned  Lamb 
is,  by  both  characteristics,  the  Source  of  security  and  the 
Author  of  nourishment.  True,  there  will  be  no  outward 
dangers  to  guard  against ;  but  the  reason  why  "  they  shall 
hunger  no  more,  neither  thirst  any  more,  neither  shall  the 
sun  strike  upon  them,  nor  any  heat,"  is,  "  for  the  Lamb 
which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  shall  be  their  Shepherd," 
and  therefore  are  they  safe  from  evil,  and  replenished  with 
all  good.  He  is  the  eternal  Source  of  satisfaction  for  heaven 
as  for  earth,  and  is  Himself  the  Fountain  of  living  waters 
to  which  He  leads  the  flock.  Heaven  is  Christ,  and  Christ 
is  Heaven.  The  future  state  of  the  redeemed  is  stable 
blessedness  and  full  delight,  not  because  of  physical  changes 
or  added  glories,  but  because  Christ  is  theirs,  and  the  full 
issues  of  His  cross  and  reign  are  reaped  by  them  in  their 
following  the  Shepherd-Lamb,  and  sharing  with  Him  His 
glories. 

The  relation  of  the  flock  to  the  shepherd  in  the  good 
pastures  of  the  mountains  of  Israel  above  is  in  some  respects 
the  opposite  of  that  experienced  here,  and  in  others  the 
completion  of  it.  There  v/e  shall  have  no  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death,  no  ravenous  beasts  to  prowl  round  the  fold 
and  pounce  upon  the  wanderers  from  the  flock,  no  dark 


14  THE   CONQUERING   CHRIST. 

gorges,  no  stony  ways,  no  thirsty  deserts,  no  straying  in  the 
wilderness  and  tearing  the  fleeces  among  thorns,  no  losing 
sight  of  the  Shepherd,  and  panting  with  panic  fears.  There 
the  Shepherd  needs  no  weapons— neither  rod  to  smite  nor 
sling  to  defend.  If  we  give  ourselves  to  His  gentle  guid- 
ance here,  where  all  these  terrors  and  hindrances  are,  He 
will  bring  us  thither  where  they  are  not ;  and  if,  with 
stumbling  steps,  we  try  to  follow  Him  as  we  best  can  in  this 
rough  road,  He  will  seek  us  when  we  wander,  and  restore  us 
when  we  faint,  and  bring  us  to  the  one  fold,  where  we  shall 
be  near  Him,  and  at  rest  for  evermore.  But  there  is  a  grim 
verse  in  one  of  the  psalms  which  tells  us  of  another  shepherd 
whose  flock  consists  of  those  self-destroying  souls,  who  will 
not  take  the  Lamb  for  their  Sacrifice,  King,  and  Guide. 
Of  these  we  read,  "  Death  shall  be  their  shepherd,"  and  the 
fold  to  which  they  are  driven  is  the  shambles.  The  choice 
is  before  us.  Shall  we  be  of  the  flock  of  the  good  Shepherd, 
or  of  that  which  is  marked  for  the  slaughter  ? 

IV.  The  final  group  of  passages  to  which  we  direct 
attention  represents  Jesus  as  the  Warrior-Lamb. 

"  These  shall  war  against  the  Lamb,  and  the  Lamb 
shall  overcome  them ;  for  He  is  Lord  of  lords,  and  King  of 
kings."  So  is  the  conflict  between  the  vassal  kings  of  the 
beast  and  the  conquering  Christ  described  in  one  vision  of 
this  book,  while  in  that  portraying  the  final  conflict,  though 
the  name  with  which  we  are  here  concerned  is  not  employed, 
the  same  title  is  given  to  the  victor,  which  in  the  passage 
just  quoted  is  ascribed  to  the  Lamb.  "  He  hath  on  His 
vesture  and  on  His  thigh  a  name  written.  King  of  kings, 
and  Lord  of  lords." 

The  very  strangeness  and  incongruity  of  the  combination 
of  the  ideas  of  the  Lamb  and  of  warfare  is  part  of  the 


THE  CONQUERING  CHRIST.  1 5 

felicity  of  the  symbol.  For  so  is  the  thought  set  forth  that 
Christ  conquers  by  gentleness,  and  that  the  instrument  by 
which  He  subdues  is  the  great  manifestation  of  His  love  in 
His  sacrifice.  But,  further,  the  paradox  of  the  Warrior-Lamb 
hints  at  the  terrible  possibilities  of  destructive  wrath  which 
lie  as  dormant  in  that  gentle  Christ.  The  same  double 
aspect  of  His  character  and  energy  is  set  forth  in  the 
striking  juxtaposition  in  the  context  of  our  second  text : 
"  Behold,  the  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  .  .  .  and  I  beheld, 
and,  lo,  a  Lamb."  Nothing  is  so  terrible  as  the  wrath  of 
gentle  love  and  patience.  No  wonder  that  the  rebels  against 
the  long-suffering,  meek  Christ,  when  they  see  Him  coming 
in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  call  despairingly  on  rocks  and  hills 
to  crush  them,  if  thereby  they  may  be  hid  from  the  "  wrath 
of  the  Lamb."  Divine  love  is  not  incapable  of  anger.  The 
Lamb  of  God  is  the  Lion  of  Judah.  Let  us  not  trifle  with 
His  power  to  smite  and  rend.  The  Lion  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah  is  the  Lamb  of  God.  Let  us  trust  and  take  refuge 
in  His  power  to  heal  and  save. 

But  this  vision  of  the  conquering  gentleness,  which  over- 
comes by  sacrifice,  derives  still  further  significance  when 
contrasted  with  its  antagonist.  The  Lamb  and  the  Beast 
are  the  two  powers  arrayed  against  each  other.  Now,  it  is 
profitless  to  ask  whether  there  has  been  or  will  be  a  personal 
manifestation  of  the  tendencies  which  are  embodied  in  that 
image.  It  is  more  to  the  purpose  to  inquire.  What  makes 
the  beast  a  beast,  whoever  or  wherever  he  may  be  ?  And  the 
answer  is  not  far  to  seek.  What  did  God  mean  manhood 
to  be  ?  Is  not  union  with  Him,  in  love,  desire,  and  obedi- 
ence, the  ideal  for  man ;  and  does  not  the  humanity  which 
is  separated  from  him  and  self-centred,  sink  to  the  animal 
•level,  and  become  like,  and  therein  beneath,  the  beasts  that 


l6  THE  CONQUERING  CHRIST. 

know  not  the  Divine  hand  that  feeds  them,  and  can  have 
no  other  object  than  themselves  in  their  dumb  and  narrow 
lives  ?  The  God-centred  man  is  truly  a  man ;  the  self- 
centred  man  is  somewhat  less  than  a  man.  Where  these 
self-regarding  impulses  are  supreme  the  animalizing  process 
is  complete,  and  "the  beast"  is  the  perfection  of  that  im- 
perfection— the  embodiment,  as  it  were,  of  self  separated 
from  God.  Against  that  sinful  selfhood  Jesus  fights  now, 
and  He  will  help  us,  if  we  will,  in  our  daily  struggle  with  the 
beast  in  our  own  natures.  If  we  will  open  our  hearts  to 
the  cleansing  of  His  sacrifice,  the  authoiity  of  His  reign, 
the  guidance  of  His  Shepherd's  care,  He  will  fill  them  with 
power  which  shall  make  us  victorious  over  all  in  ourselves 
that  draws  us  away  from  God,  and  "  the  lion  and  the 
dragon  "  that  are  in  us  we  "  shall  trample  underfoot." 

The  Warrior-Lamb  is  the  Hope  of  each  soul  struggling 
with  its  own  evil  and  seeking  to  help  its  fellows.  He  is  the 
Hope  for  the  world.  They  who  understand  the  meaning  of 
His  sacrifice,  enthronement,  gracious  guidance,  and  protec- 
tion, cannot  but  be  confident  that  He  will  cast  out  evil,  and 
that  the  fruit  of  the  travail  of  His  soul  shall  be  rich  and 
ample  and  eternal  enough  to  satisfy  even  the  universal  love 
of  His  heart,  and  to  correspond  to  even  the  might  of  His 
sacrifice  and  the  unspeakable  price  with  which  He  has 
redeemed  the  world. 

For  ourselves,  all  depends  on  our  beginning  with  the 
vision  of  the  slain  Lamb.  The  call  comes  to  each  of  us, 
"  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
world  !  "  Our  sins  are  in  that  gigantic  mass  beneath  which 
He  sank  fainting,  but  which  He  has  borne  away.  Have  we 
laid  our  hands,  like  the  offerers  of  old,  on  the  head  of  the 
sacrifice  and  thus  associated  ourselves  with  Him  by  faith  ? 


THE  CONQUERING  CHRIST.  1 7 

Have  we  ever  truly  cried,  "  O  Lamb  of  God,  that  taketh 
away  the  sins  of  the  world,  have  mercy  upon  us  "  ?  If  we 
truly  and  habitually  live  obeying  the  merciful  call  to 
behold  Him,  then  in  life  He  will  be  for  us  Sacrifice,  King, 
Shepherd,  Champion.  If  we  look  to  Him  through  the  mists 
and  clouds  of  time,  His  face  will  beam  upon  us  and  make 
the  darkness  light  about  us.  When  He  leads  us  through 
the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  and  the  swellings  of 
Jordan,  He  will  be  with  us  ;  and  when  we  open  our  eyes 
again,  after  the  brief  darkness,  and  wipe  the  cold  waters 
from  our  faces,  our  first  sight  in  heaven  will  be  the  Lamb  in 
the  midst  of  the  throne,  and  He  will  lead  us  among  the 
good  pastures  of  the  sunlit  hills,  where  no  foes  nor  fears  will 
disturb,  nor  sin  and  sorrow  vex  any  more  for  ever. 


c — 2 


SPOKEN    NEED,    UNSPOKEN 
REQUEST. 


SPOKEN  NEED,  UNSPOKEN 
REQUEST. 

"  And  when  they  wanted  wine,  the  mother  of  Jesus  saith  unto  Him, 
They  have  no  wine." — ^John  ii.  3. 

"  Therefore  his  sisters  sent  unto  Jesus,  saying,  Lord,  behold,  he 
whom  Thou  lovest  is  sick." — ^John  xi.  3. 

There  can  be  no  greater  contrast  than  that  presented  by 
these  two  scenes.  In  the  one  we  have  the  homely  merriment 
of  a  rustic  wedding,  in  the  other  the  despair  of  two  desolate 
women's  hearts.  The  mother  of  Jesus  and  the  sisters  of 
Lazarus  stand  at  opposite  poles  of  feeling.  But  from  the 
station  of  each  a  straight  line  can  be  drawn  to  where  Jesus 
is.  Sorrow  and  joy  have  an  equally  open  road  to  Him,  and 
find  equal  sympathy  there.  The  gravity  of  the  respective 
needs  in  these  two  incidents  is  singularly  different.  The 
one  is  a  trifle,  the  other  a  crushing  weight.  But,  great  or 
small,  transient  or  lifelong,  as  cares  or  wants  may  be,  they 
are  best  met  and  conquered  and  supplied  when  told  to  our 
Lord.  Not  less  noticeable  is  the  identity  in  manner  of  the 
two  sayings.  The  mother  of  our  Lord  simply  says,  "They 
have  no  wine,"  and  adds  no  more.  The  sisters  send  only 
the  message,  "  He  whom  Thou  lovest  is  sick,"  and  proffer 
no  request.  That  manner  of  addressing  Christ,  alike  in 
sorrow  and  joy,  in  trivial  and  in  great  necessity,  with  the 


22  SPOKEN   NEED,  UNSPOKEN   REQUEST. 

simple  statement  of  what  presses  on  life  or  heart,  and  the 
suppression  of  all  prescription  to  Him  of  what  He  is  to  do, 
may  suggest  some  not  useless  considerations  as  to  the  tone 
and  manner  which  should  mark  our  intercourse  with  Jesus. 

I.  Our  intercourse  with  Him  should  be  characterized  by 
frank  familiarity  of  communication,  such  as  befits  love  and 
friendship. 

It  was  a  natural   impulse   which   brought  both   these 
utterances  to  Jesus.     His  mother  was  troubled  when  the 
scanty  store  of  her  friends  at  Cana  began  to  give  out,  and, 
as  she  saw  the  wine-skins  becoming  more  and  more  flaccid, 
a  spirit  in  her  feet  carried  her  to  her  Son,  perhaps  before 
she  well  knew  what  she  did,  or  wished  Him  to  do.     The 
two  sad  hearts  at  Bethany,  as  they  saw  the  black  wing  of 
the  angel  of  death  hovering  over  their  home,  turned  spon- 
taneously to  Jesus,  and,  though  they  did  not  know  what  He 
could  do  if  He  came,  still  felt  that  the  sorrow  would  be 
more  easily  borne  if  they  knew  that  He  knew  it.    Now,  that 
same  instinctive  prompting  to  tell  dear  ones  all  our  thoughts 
and  wishes  is  an  unfailing  character  of  real  love.     It  makes 
the  blessedness  of  many  a  happy  pair  of  hearts,  to  whom 
knowing  and  being  known  are  equal  delight  and  simple 
necessity.     The  depth  and  purity  of  our  human  love  may 
be  roughly,  but  with  tolerable  accuracy,  measured  by  the 
strength  of  that  impulse.     Where  reserve  is  possible,  love  is 
shallow  or  coarse.     The  impulse  affects  all  that  interests  or 
concerns  a  pair  of  friends.     Not  even  dark  secrets  of  shame 
escape,  for  true  love  seeks  to  share  these  too,  and  they  are 
less  of  a  barrier  when  told  than  when  hidden.    The  magnitude 
of  the  thing  is  of  no  importance.     We  do  not  ask  whether 
it  is  large  enough  to  trouble  those  whom  we  love  with  it. 
A  child  runs  to  its  mother  with  a  broken  toy,  or  the  scratch 


SPOKEN   NEED,    UNSPOKEN   REQUEST.  23 

of  a  pin  on  its  finger,  or  an  untied  shoe.  Love  has  no  care 
for  great  or  small.  Concealment  of  little  is  concealment 
also  of  much,  and  the  confidence  which  tells  trifles  is  per- 
haps greater  than  that  which  tells  important  things;  and  what 
love  prizes  is  the  confidence,  more  than  the  knowledge  given. 

The  love  which  binds  human  hearts  to  one  another  is 
not  different  in  kind  from  that  which  knits  men  to  Jesus. 
Love  is  love,  to  whomsoever  it  is  directed  and  whatever 
may  be  the  differences  of  its  accompaniments.  What  our 
love  does  in  us  when  it  is  fixed  on  one  another,  that  it 
should  do  when  it  is  fixed  in  humble  faith  on  Jesus  Christ. 
Many  of  its  signs  and  effects  will  necessarily  be  different, 
but  in  the  one  case,  as  in  the  other,  perfect  frankness  of 
communication  and  delight  in  yielding  to  the  impulse  of 
laying  bare  every  corner  of  our  hearts,  whatever  inner  base- 
ness may  lurk  there,  will  assuredly  attend  real  love.  We 
may  live  in  the  light  of  an  ever-gladdening  consciousness  of 
Christ's  love  and  sympathy,  and  if  we  walked  in  that  light 
as  we  may,  and  therefore  should,  we  should  no  more  be  able 
to  carry  secret  cares  hidden  beneath  our  cloaks  to  gnaw  at 
our  hearts,  than  loving  husband  or  wife  can  hide  troubles  or 
thoughts  from  wife  or  husband  loved. 

Now,  that  is  a  very  sharp  test  of  Christian  character, 
and  makes  short  work  of  much  complacent  profession.  If 
we  really  love  Christ  and  feel  to  Him  as  to  a  friend,  and 
if  we  heartily  believe  that  we  can  speak  to  Him  and  be 
heard,  we  shall  not  need  any  one  to  tell  us  that  it  is  our 
duty  to  pray  to  Him.  "Access  with  confidence"  will  come 
spontaneously,  as  a  relief  to  overcharged  hearts  and  the 
blessing  of  solitary  ones — and,  after  all  companionship, 
who  is  not  soHtary  ?  The  impossibiUty  of  imparting 
our  whole  selves  to  any  makes  our  hearts  often  ache,  and  if 


24  SPOKEN    NEED,    UNSPOKEN    REQUEST. 

we  feel  to  Christ  as  we  should,  we  shall  thankfully  still  the 
aching  by  uttermost  frankness  of  self-revelation  to  Him. 
We  should  instinctively  feel  that  whatever  irritates  or  affects 
us,  be  it  slight  as  a  mosquito's  puncture  or  grave  as  a  whip- 
adder's  sting,  must  be  told  to  Him.  He  who  only  invokes 
Christ's  sympathy  and  help  when  there  comes  a  "knot"  in 
his  fortunes  which  he  thinks  "  worthy "  of  such  a  hand  to 
unravel,  will  seldom  invoke  Him,  and  will  not  usually  do  it 
to  much  purpose.  Trifles  are  the  bulk  of  life,  and  unless 
our  communion  with  our  Lord  extends  to  trifles,  it  will  be 
poor  and  partial  indeed.  We  may  well  ask  ourselves,  then, 
whether  such  instinctive  impulse,  prior  to  all  reflection  as  to 
duty  or  advantage,  sends  us  to  Jesus  Christ,  to  make  Him 
our  confidant  and  unload  our  hearts  to  Him,  in  that  frank 
outpouring  which  is  the  native  tongue  of  love.  Do  we 
find  ourselves  telling  Him  of  our  annoyances,  calamities, 
little  wants  and  the  like,  almost  before  we  know  it  ?  There 
are  heights  and  depths  of  Christian  communion  beyond 
such  self-regarding  speech,  but  these  sanctities  and  sub- 
limities will  seldom  be  reached  except  we  first  have  acquired 
the  habit  of  telling  Him  all  that  interests  and  harasses  us 
in  daily  life.  The  mountain  summits  of  a  continent  do  not 
usually  rise  at  the  water's  edge,  but  from  high  uplands. 
How  different  our  lives  would  be  if  we  brought  them  all  in 
their  veriest  trifles  into  touch  with  Jesus— noble,  calm, 
joyous  in  the  midst  of  sorrow,  and  with  a  certain  breath  of 
heaven  rustling  through  them  and  freshening  them  !  "  Pour 
out  your  hearts  before  Him,"  as  a  man  might  invert  some 
golden  vase,  and  empty  its  contents  to  the  last  drop  trickling 
from  the  lip.  The  heart  thus  emptied  in  frank  confidence 
will  be  filled  with  peace,  and  be  conscious  of  an  all-sufticing 
presence. 


SPOKEN    NEED,    UNSPOKEN    REQUEST.  25 

II.  These  two  sayings  may  further  suggest  the  trustful 
and  submissive  suppression  of  desire  which  should  accom- 
pany this  frank  confidence. 

"  They  have  no  wine."  Did  that  mean,  "  Give  them 
some"?  It  can  scarcely  be  supposed  that,  at  that  early 
stage,  the  virgin  expected  her  Son  to  work  a  miracle,  even 
though  she  kept  all  the  unforgetable  events  of  the  Nativity 
in  her  heart.  "  He  whom  Thou  lovest  is  sick."  Did  that 
mean,  "  Come  and  heal  him  "  ?  Some  faint  hope  of  that  sort 
may  have  been  in  the  sisters'  hearts,  as  may  be  inferred 
from  their  half-reproachful  greeting  of  Jesus  when  He  came, 
but  it  was  probably  of  the  vaguest  character.  If  there  were 
such  wishes  in  either  case,  the  suppression  of  them  indicates 
the  speakers'  absolute  trust  in  Christ's  superior  wisdom  and 
perfect  sympathy,  which  makes  their  utterance  of  their 
wishes  superfluous  and  presumptuous.  But  probably  in 
neither  case  was  there  a  definite  expectation,  and  if  there 
were  anything  in  their  minds  beyond  the  impulse  of  which 
we  have  spoken,  they  apparently  trustfully  left  the  decision  of 
what  He  should  do  in  His  own  hands. 

Let  us  tell  Christ  our  needs  and  stop  there.  Surely  we 
are  well  enough  acquainted  with  His  loving  purpose  to  be 
certain  that  for  Him  to  know  is  to  pity,  and  to  pity  is  to 
stretch  out  a  full  and  strong  hand  of  supply  and  help.  We 
say  that  we  believe  in  His  Divine  nature.  If  we  do,  we 
must  believe  that  His  knowledge  needs  no  informing  by  us  to 
move  His  sympathy.  Why,  then,  should  we  tell  Him  our 
needs,  if  He  knows  them  already  ?  We  have  already  partly 
answered  that  question  by  pointing  to  the  instinct  of  love  ; 
but,  further,  we  must  remember  that  our  communication  of 
our  wants  is  preliminary  to  His  supply  of  them,  not  because 
it  informs  Him,  but  because  it  prepares  us.     He  does  not 


26  SPOKEN   NEED,   UNSPOKEN   REQUEST. 

need  to  be  told,  but  we  need  to  tell  Him.  That  being  so, 
it  is  the  part  of  faith  to  spread  our  needs  before  Jesus,  and 
to  do  no  more.  All  need  makes  appeal  to  Him,  and  many 
forms  of  it  are  supplied  from  His  loving  hand,  without 
other  prayer  than  the  dumb,  unconscious  one  of  the  neces- 
sity's existence.  "  He  heareth  the  ravens  when  they  cry ; 
He  openeth  His  hand,  and  satisfieth  the  desire  of  every 
living  thing."  When  on  earth,  many  miracles  were  wrought 
without  either  faith  or  petition.  "  He  healed  them  that  had 
need  of  healing,"  for  no  other  reason  than  because  they  had 
need,  and  the  silent  pleading  of  their  misery  entered  into 
His  heart.  That  rock  needed  no  stroke  of  a  rod,  nor  even 
a  word,  to  make  its  waters  gush  forth.  The  presence  of 
the  thirsty  was  enough. 

But  for  higher  gifts  there  must  needs  be  the  confidence 
already  spoken  of,  and  where  that  exists  there  need  not 
and  should  not  be  the  prescribing  of  a  course  to  Jesus.  To 
do  that  is  consonant  neither  with  faith  nor  with  reverence. 
Humble  submission  to  Christ's  better  wisdom  breathed 
through  His  mother's  words  and  the  sisters'  message.  True 
prayer  is  not  pestering  the  Throne  with  passionate  entreaties 
that  a  certain  method  of  deliverance,  which  seems  best  to 
us,  should  be  forthwith  effected,  but  is  a  calm  utterance 
of  need,  and  a  patient,  submissive  expectance  of  fitting  help, 
of  which  we  dare  not  define  the  manner  or  the  time.  They 
are  wisest,  most  trustful  and  reverent,  who  do  not  seek  to 
impose  their  notions  and  wills  on  the  clearer  wisdom  and 
deeper  love  to  which  they  betake  themselves,  but  are 
satisfied  with  leaving  all  to  His  arbitrament.  True  prayer 
is  the  bending  of  our  own  wills  to  the  Divine,  not  the 
urging  of  ours  on  it.  When  Hezekiah  received  the  insolent 
letter  from  the  invader,  he  took  it  and  "  spread  it  before  the 


SPOKEN    NEED,   UNSPOKEN   REQUEST.  2/ 

Lord,"  asking  God  to  read  it,  and  leaving  all  else  to  Him 
to  determine ;  as  if  he  had  said,  "  Behold,  Lord,  this  boasting 
page.  I  bring  it  to  Thee,  and  now  it  is  Thine  affair  more 
than  mine."  The  burden  which  we  roll  on  God  lies  lightly 
on  our  shoulders  ;  and  if  we  do  roll  it  thither,  we  need  not 
trouble  ourselves  with  the  question  of  how  He  will  deal 
with  it. 

The  less  we  seek  to  prescribe  to  God,  the  truer  and 
more  blessed  will  be  our  intercourse  with  Him.  It  is 
enough  to  tell  Him  that  the  wine  fails,  or  that  Lazarus  is  ill. 
Leave  Him  a  free  hand  to  do  as  He  will,  in  supplying 
deficiencies  and  healing  diseases.  A  confident  assurance 
of  the  fact  that  needs  will  be  met,  a  blank  sheet  in  our 
expectation  as  to  how  they  will  be,  and  a  sharpened  atten- 
tion, alert  to  mark  the  direction  which  His  help  may  take, 
should  ever  accompany  our  speech  to  Christ.  The  highest 
prayer  is,  "  Not  my  will,  but  Thine,  be  done,"  and  the  best 
answer  is,  "  The  peace  of  God  shall  keep  your  hearts  and 
minds  in  Christ  Jesus."  The  cares  which  are  imparted  to 
the  beloved  lose  their  poison,  the  tasks  shared  with  them 
are  lightened,  and  all  joys  become  more  joyful,  and  all 
objects  of  interest  more  poignantly  stimulating  when  shared. 
The  law  of  earthly  love  applies  to  the  highest,  in  so  far  that 
to  tell  Jesus  of  burdens  shifts  them  from  us  to  Him,  and 
disturbances  are  less  disturbing  when  our  disquiet  has  been 
breathed  into  His  calm  heart.  Mary  shook  off  responsibility 
for  the  empty  wine-skins  when  she  told  Jesus  of  them,  and 
we  bring  a  stronger  arm  than  ours  to  deal  with  difficulties 
when  we  in  like  manner  speak  of  them  to  our  Lord.  The 
sisters  at  Bethany  felt  less  lonely  and  crushed  when  they 
thought  that  Jesus  knew,,  though  they  did  not  venture  to 
send  requests  to  Him.     So  from  these  two  instances,  the 


28  SPOKEN    NEED,    UNSPOKEN    REQUEST. 

one  of  a  most  trivial  need,  the  other  of  a  most  tragic,  we 
may  learn  the  one  lesson — tell  your  need,  and  then  be 
silent,  and  let  Him  settle  how  it  is  to  be  met.  Only  be  on 
the  watch  for  what  He  may  do,  and  be  sure  that  He  will  do 
something,  and  that  the  right  thing. 

HI.  These  two  incidents  give  two  ways  of  taking 
Christ's  delays. 

Our  Lord's  treatment  of  the  two  appeals  is  substantially 
the  same.  The  answer  to  Mary  sounds  more  repellent  in 
English  than  in  Greek,  inasmuch  as  "  woman  "  has  in  it 
a  tinge  of  roughness  not  conveyed  by  the  original.  The 
question  simply  suggests  independent  action  and  not  alien- 
ation ;  but  the  request  was  certainly  put  aside,  and  its 
repetition  forbidden.  In  the  remaining  clause,  "  Mine 
hour  is  not  yet  come,"  a  promise,  like  a  sweet  kernel,  is 
hidden  in  the  words  ;  for  "  not  yet "  warrants  and  seems  to 
be  meant  to  create  expectance  that  the  hour  will  strike  soon, 
and  be  heard  by  His  ear.  Precisely  similar  is  Christ's 
action  in  the  other  case.  "  When  Jesus  heard  that  he  was 
sick,  He  abode  still  two  days  in  the  same  place  where  He 
was."  There  again  he  delayed  till  His  "hour"  had  come. 
That  expression,  so  frequent  on  our  Lord's  lips,  implies 
that  each  act  of  His  was  regulated  by  the  conviction,  clear 
to  Himself,  that  the  time  for  it,  appointed  by  the  Father, 
had  arrived.  Whether  it  were  the  hour  "  when  the  Son  of 
man  should  be  glorified"  by  the  supreme  sacrifice  of  the 
cross,  or  the  hour  when  the  peasant  wedding  should  have 
replenished  stores.  His  ear  heard  it  strike,  without  the 
possibility  of  mistake ;  and  till  it  was  heard,  nothing — not 
even  a  mother's  wistful  look,  or  the  sad  hearts  at  Bethany — 
could  induce  Him  to  act.  In  proportion  as  we  approach 
the  same  perfection  of  filial  obedience,  we  shall  be  blessed 


SPOKEN   NEED,   UNSPOKEN   REQUEST.  29 

with  the  same  certainty  of  perception,  and  may  hear,  even 
amid  the  vulgar,  loud  noises  of  life,  the  solemn  tones 
announcing  the  hour  for  great  service  or  "small  duty.  Well 
for  those  who  have  so  silenced  the  ringing  in  their  own 
ears  that  they  hear  beyond  mistake  God's  chimes,  and 
hearing,  obey  ! 

The  time  between  Christ's  refusal  to  act  on  His 
mother's  hint  and  His  acting  on  it  was  probably  brief ;  but 
much  may  happen  in  short  space,  and  requisite  conditions 
may  have  been  quickly  supplied.  God's  clock  does  not  go; 
at  the  same  rate  as  ours,  but  "  a  thousand  years  "  may  some- 
times be  crowded  into  "  one  "  of  His  days,  and  one  of  His 
days  be  lengthened  to  a  slow  thousand  of  our  years.  Two 
days  seemed  an  eternity  to  the  sisters,  and  no  doubt 
bewilderingly  long  to  some  of  the  attendant  disciples ;  but, 
longer  or  shorter,  the  delays  teach  us  the  truth  that  Christ's 
time  is  determined  by  considerations  which  we  are  little 
able  to  appreciate.  "  The  Lord  is  not  slack  concerning 
His  promises,  as  men  count  slackness."  The  same  connec- 
tion of  ideas  is  presented  also  in  that  remarkable  incident 
which  this  evangelist  alone  records,  when  our  Lord's 
brethren  scoffingly  suggested  to  Him  to  go  up  to  the  feast, 
and  received  the  same  answer  as  did  Mary,  "My  time  is 
not  yet  come."  It  came  in  a  few  hours,  and  probably  was 
marked  to  Christ's  consciousness  by  an  inward  impulse 
rather  than  by  any  change  in  circumstances.  Thus,  an 
action  which  looked  like  mere  vacillation,  and  has  often 
been  felt  as  a  difficulty,  becomes,  when  rightly  understood, 
a  striking  witness  to  the  continual  communion  with  the 
guiding  will  of  the  Father,  and  regulation  of  all  His  life 
thereby,  which  Jesus  enjoyed  and  practised.  But,  in 
regard  to  His  answers  to  our  requests,  as  in  regard  to  His 


30  SPOKEN   NEED,   UNSPOKEN    REQUEST. 

answers  to  those  in  our  texts,  though  the  considerations 
which  determine  His  hour  are  beyond  our  sight,  the  great 
governing  principle  of  which  they  were  products  is  clear. 
Whatever  holds  back  His  hand,  it  is  not  lack  of  sympathy 
with  our  sorrow,  disregard  of  our  confidence,  nor  unwilling- 
ness nor  inability  to  respond  to  our  cry.  The  consideration 
of  what  is  best  for  us  and  others  who  may  be  helped  by 
our  experience  is  sovereign  with  Him.  All  delay  is  the 
result  of  His  love,  and  meant  for  highest  good,  not  only  to 
the  individual  most  concerned,  but  to  others  also.  "  I  am 
glad  for  your  sakes  that  I  was  not  there,  to  the  intent  ye 
may  believe." 

The  similarity  which  we  have  traced  in  the  two  super- 
ficially so  different  instances  does  not  extend  to  the  manner 
in  which  the  two  delays  were  received  by  the  persons  in- 
terested. These  are  contrasted  rather  than  parallel,  and 
while  the  one  is  an  example,  the  other  is  a  warning.  Mary's 
meek  faith,  though  there  had  been  so  little  hitherto  to  feed 
it,  drew  hope  from  the  seeming  rebuff.  Apparently  she 
clung  to  the  glimmer  of  hope  in  that  "  not  yet,"  else  her 
charge  to  the  servants  has  nothing  in  the  narrative  to 
account  for  it.  It  was  but  a  slight  foothold,  but  it  was 
enough  for  her.  A  heart  truly  in  harmony  with  Christ  will 
ever  hear  in  His  most  discouraging  words  the  undertones 
of  promise.  "  Not  yet  "  may  darken  to-day,  but  it  ensures 
a  bright  to-morrow.  "  If  winter  comes,  can  spring  be  far 
behind  ?  "  The  very  sorrow  is  a  veiled  prophet,  and  the 
night  of  weeping  leads  in  the  morning  of  joy.  That  was  a 
noble  and  wise  faith  which  bore  away  from  Christ's  "  not 
yet,"  not  fear,  doubt,  disappointment,  nor  the  sense  of 
repulse,  but  a  hope  certain  as  to  the  fact  of  His  help,  and 
quietly  ignorant  of  the  time  and  way,     *'  Whatsoever  He 


SPOKEN   NEED,   UNSPOKEN   REQUEST.  3 1 

saith  unto  you,  do  it,"  was  a  triumph  of  faith,  penetrating 
the  surface  denial,  and  sucking  the  sweet  drop  stored  in 
the  depths  of  the  flower.  The  six  waterpots  full  of  wine 
vindicated  the  confidence  which  translated  "not  yet"  into 
*'  in  good  time."  So  will  it  be  with  us,  if  we  leave  Him  to 
settle  when  "right  early"  is.  We  shall  "wonder  at  the 
beauteous  hours,  the  slow  result  of  winter  showers,"  and  see 
at  last  what  we  believed  while  He  tarried,  that  delay  is  a 
form  of  love,  and  His  hour  the  right  hour. 

The  two  sisters  at  Bethany  seem  to  have  had  natural 
regrets  during  the  four  days  between  their  message  and 
Christ's  coming.  Apparently,  indeed,  their  brother  was 
already  dead  when  their  messenger  reached  our  Lord.  But, 
if  we  may  judge  from  the  salutation  with  which  each  met 
Him,  "  If  Thou  hadst  been  here,  my  brother  had  not  died," 
they  had  often  wearily  looked  at  one  another  in  their  lonely 
misery  and  said  the  same  thing.  How  we  may  recognize 
ourselves  in  them  !  That  same  weakening  and  useless  regret 
that  something  did  not  happen  which,  if  it  had  happened, 
would  have  changed  everything,  tortures  us  all  in  our  sorrows. 
The  sisters  did  not  so  much  complain  as  regret.  They  did 
not  think  that  Jesus  should  or  might  have  come,  they  only 
thought — How  blessed  if  He  had  come,  or  never  gone ! 
They  had  to  learn  the  purpose  of  His  delay  and  of  their 
sorrow,  and  when  in  a  few  minutes  they  did  learn  it,  how 
ashamed  of  their  "  if"  they  must  have  been  !  The  delay  to 
heal  was  in  order  to  prepare  a  mightier  blessing,  and  the 
sharp  sorrow  was  allowed  in  order  that  its  wounds  might  be 
filled  with  fragrant  balm,  which  only  a  wounded  heart  could 
receive.  It  was  more  to  give  back  to  empty  hands  the 
blessing  that  had  been  torn  from  them  than  to  have  kept 
it  there.     Jesus  did  not  come  to  heal  the  brother  who  was 


32  SPOKEN    NEED,    UNSPOKEN   REQUEST. 

sick,  because  He  would  come  to  restore  to  the  sisters' 
embrace  the  brother  that  "  was  dead  and  is  aUve  again,  was 
lost"  in  the  dark  grave,  "and  found  again"  in  the  gladsome 
light  of  life. 

So  it  ever  is  with  the  experience  of  those  who  wait  His 
time,  nor  let  their  faith  droop,  nor  doubt  that  His  absence 
and  their  sorrows  are  the  fruits  of  His  love  and  the  prepara- 
tion for  larger  blessings  and  deeper  joy.  So  He  vindicates 
His  delays.  So  He  answers  the  confidence  which  tells  Him 
all  its  needs  and  troubles,  and  leaves  Him  to  determine 
how  and  when  to  work.  So  He  rewards  the  faithful  and 
submissive  prayer,  of  which  the  inmost  spirit  is,  "  Not  my 
will,  but  Thine  ;  not  my  time,  but  Thine  !  ' 


GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HEART  OF 

JESUS. 


D — 2 


GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HEART 
OF  JESUS. 

"  Being  moved  with  compassion,  He  stretched  forth  His  hand." — 
Mark  i.  41. 

The  Gospels  seldom  speak  of  what  Jesus  felt.  They  are 
for  the  most  part  content  to  let  His  words  and  deeds 
speak  for  themselves,  as  they  have  indeed  spoken,  leaving 
an  impression,  marvellous  in  its  clearness,  depth,  and  uni- 
versalit)',  when  compared  with  the  four  tiny  booklets  which 
have  made  it. 

But  this  evangelist  somewhat  more  frequently  than  the 
others  lifts  a  corner  of  the  veil,  and  gives  a  momentary 
glimpse  into  the  holy  of  holies  in  the  heart  of  Jesus.  If 
the  old  idea  that  Peter  was  the  source  of  this  Gospel  is  true, 
we  have  a  natural  explanation  of  its  minute  details,  and  can 
picture  the  apostle,  whose  quickness  of  observation  was 
accelerated  and  sharpened  by  passionate  love,  watching 
with  keen  eye,  and  remembering  in  a  faithful  memory, 
every  look  and  gesture  and  fleeting  expression  of  counte- 
nance which  told  of  the  heart's  emotions.  The  image  of 
Christ  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  men  owes  much  of  its 
sweetness  to  the  small  traits  contributed  by  this  evangelist 
to  the  common  stock.     We  purpose,  then,  in  this  sermon,  to 


36  GLIMPSES  OF  THE   HEART  OF  JESUS. 

deal  with  Mark's  glimpses  of  the  heart  of  Jesus,  of  which 
the  words  taken  as  our  text  are  the  earliest. 

It  may  be  well  at  the  outset  to  enumerate  them.  There 
is  first  the  compassion  noted  in  the  text.  Next  we  have 
(ch.  iii.  5)  anger  blended  with  grief  at  the  hardening  of 
His  opponents'  hearts.  Further,  we  find  two  instances 
in  ch.  vi. :  one  (ver.  6),  wonder  at  unbelief;  and  a,nother 
(ver.  34),  compassion  for  the  helplessness  of  the  untaught 
multitude.  There  are  also  two  instances  in  ch.  x.,  in 
which  are  recorded  our  Lord's  displeasure  with  the  disciples' 
keeping  children  from  His  embrace,  and  the  outgoing  of 
His  love  to  the  young  ruler.  Then  there  is  a  solemn  and 
pathetic  pair  in  ch.  xiv.  :  one,  the  evangelist's  description 
of  Jesus  as  "  sore  amazed  and  very  heavy ; "  and  the  other, 
His  own  plaintive  word  to  the  three  drowsy  disciples  :  "  My 
soul  is  exceeding  sorrowful,  even  unto  death."  If  we  study 
the  picture  resulting  from  the  combination  of  all  these,  we 
may  gain  some  deepened  impressions  of  the  glory  and 
sweetness  of  that  pure  manhood,  which  may  knit  our 
thankful  hearts  in  closer  affection  and  service  to  Him. 

I.  We  note  then,  first,  the  Christ  who  pities  all  sorrow. 

The  two  instances  in  which  compassion  is  attributed  to 
our  Lord  by  Mark  may  be  taken  as  covering  the  whole 
ground  of  human  misery.  The  former  is  that  in  our  text, 
which  represents  the  pity  that  welled  forth  at  the  sight  of 
physical  suffering.  The  other  (ch.  vi.  34)  is  that  in  which 
the  emotion  sprang  up  at  the  sight  of  the  weary  multitude 
who  had  followed  Him  for  His  teaching,  as  His  penetrating 
gaze  looked  beneath  their  bodily  weariness  to  their  spiritual 
want  of  guidance  from  prophet,  priest,  or  ruler.  Thus, 
physical  evil  and  spiritual  darkness  and  weariness  smote 
on  His  heart.     Once  besides  in  this  Gospel  we  find  Christ's 


GLIMPSES  OF  THE   HEART   OF  JESUS.  37 

compassion  mentioned,  but  by  Himself,  not  by  the  evan- 
gelist (ch.  viii.  6),  when  He  assigns  it  as  His  motive  for 
consulting  the  disciples  as  to  how  the  crowds  are  to  be  fed. 
Luke,  who  only  once  speaks  of  our  Lord's  compassion,  does 
so  in  connection  with  a  specially  sad  story,  that  of  the  poor 
woman  whom  Jesus  and  His  disciples  met  as  they  toiled 
up  the  hill  to  Nain,  weeping  behind  the  bier  of  the  sole 
light  of  her  widowed  home,  her  only  son.  No  wonder  that 
such  grief  and  such  loneliness  touched  the  springs  of  pity 
in  His  solitary  heart.  Matthew,  too,  tells  of  our  Lord's 
compassion  in  the  parallel  passage  to  our  text,  and  in  other 
places. 

These  two  cases  teach  us  the  impartial  width  of  our 
Lord's  compassion.  He  was  open  to  appeals  to  His  pity 
made  by  sickness,  hunger,  and  the  other  ills  that  flesh  is 
heir  to,  and  He  was  not  less  quickly  and  deeply  touched  by 
compassion  for  ignorance,  spiritual  and  intellectual  want 
of  guidance,  and  the  weariness  and  unrest  which  these 
caused.  Such  capacity  of  feeling  with  equal  strength  the 
appeal  of  the  two  great  forms  of  man's  misery  is  rare,  and 
more  frequently  we  find  that  the  men  who  are  quick  to  pity 
the  hungry  and  the  sick  have  little  sympathy  for  the 
ignorant  and  them  that  are  out  of  the  way,  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  compassion  of  religious  men  is  often  apt 
to  be  somewhat  indifferent  to  material  wants,  and  to  leave 
dealing  with  them  to  others.  So  it  comes  to  pass  that  there 
are  two  sets  of  philanthropists  in  the  world,  who  do  not 
look  at  each  oilier  with  altogether  friendly  eyes,  the  one  of 
whom  cares  for  men's  bodies,  and  thinks  it  rather  waste 
to  spend  pity  and  effort  on  their  "  souls,"  and  the  other  of 
whom  is  so  much  concerned  about  their  souls  that  it  gives 
little  help  to  attempts    to    improve  material    conditions. 


38  GLIMPSES  OF   THE   HEART  OF  JESUS. 

The  Church  has  often  laid  itself  open  to  the  world's  taunt 
of  neglecting  the  lower  needs,  which  are  more  clamorous 
than  the  higher ;  but  there  are  many  tokens  that  a  clearer 
understanding  of  the  width  of  Christian  compassion  and  duty 
is  beginning  to  prevail.  Possibly  the  warning  against  the 
impending  possibility  of  harmful  exaggeration  in  a  new 
direction  may  not  be  unnecessary.  The  new  impulses  to 
recognizing  the  mission  of  Christianity  in  regard  to  social 
questions  are  sure  to  carry  some  light  weights  too  far.  As 
Luther  says  somewhere,  in  his  rough  strong  way,  "  Human 
nature  is  like  a  drunken  peasant.  If  he  is  put  up  on  one 
side  of  his  horse,  he  is  sure  to  fall  over  on  the  other."  It 
will  be  a  dark  day  for  the  progress  of  the  Christian  Church 
if  good  men  suffer  themselves  to  be  drawn  aside  from  its 
primary  work,  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  and  the  dealing 
with  the  deepest  sources  of  human  misery  in  human  sin,  to 
throwing  their  chief  energy  into  the  needful  but  secondary 
work  of  dealing  with  the  fruits  of  spiritual  evil  in  physical 
distress.  It  is  true  that  Jesus  pitied  the  hungry  and  fed 
them,  and  therein  He  has  taught  us  how  wide  our  sympathies 
and  efforts  should  be,  but  it  is  also  true  that  He  rebuked  the 
crowds  who  came  after  Him  only  for  loaves,  and  pressed 
upon  them  as  His  true  and  proper  gift  the  flesh  and  blood 
which  are  the  sources  and  supports  of  a  better  life. 

Christ's  sympathy  was  incalculably  deeper  and  more 
poignant  than  ours  can  ever  be.  For  His  eye  was  clearer 
than  ours,  and  saw  deeper.  To  Him  the  single  sufferer 
represented  crowds.  The  one  black  drop  brought  to  His 
mind  all  the  sullen  ocean  of  blackness,  which  rolls  its 
heavy  tides  round  the  whole  world.  We  see  but  the  wave 
or  two  that  break  nearest  us,  and  all  the  other  multitudinous 
billows  escape  our  knowledge.     We  mass  men  in  the  race, 


GLIMPSES   OF   THE   HEART  OF   JESUS.  39 

and,  generalizing,  lose  the  impression  of  individuals.  We 
have  a  vague  notion  that  there  is  a  great  deal  of  sorrow 
in  the  world,  but  we  do  not  receive  the  impact  of  it  all  on 
our  own  hearts  as  Jesus  Christ  did.  He  saw  as  a  God 
what  he  pitied  as  a  Man.  His  compassion  was  not  only 
the  pity  of  a  Divine  nature  which,  if  it  be  love,  must  needs 
be  pity  too,  but  it  was  the  fellow-feeling  of  one  of  ourselves, 
which  knew  a  kindred  pang,  and  was  fed  by  a  Divine  clear- 
ness and  sweep  of  perception  that  summoned  up  before 
Him  on  the  occasion  of  one  bier  all  the  mourners  and  the 
dead,  and  saw  in  every  sorrow  but  the  nearest  member 
of  a  linked  procession  girdhng  the  world.  Nor  did  the 
underlying  Divine  knowledge  alone  deepen  His  sympathy. 
The  purity  of  His  manhood  increased  it.  In  Him  were  no 
spots  insensitive  by  reason  of  selfishness,  as  there  are  in  all 
others — true  witches'  marks,  which  can  be  pricked  without 
feeling.  A  soul  entirely  delivered  from  selfish  regards  would 
be  like  an  infant's  hand  for  sensitiveness,  whereas  our  palms 
are  indurated  in  the  cuticle  by  selfishness,  and  our  fingers 
have  lost  the  fineness  of  touch  which  would  secure  sympathy 
with  others'  sorrows.  With  Jesus  it  was  as  if  the  very 
nerves  of  His  own  frame  had  been  prolonged  into  that  of 
others,  so  close  was  His  union  with  them,  by  the  wonderful 
completeness  of  his  self-oblivion.  Thus  in  truest  fashion 
His  sympathy  answered  to  the  meaning  of  the  word,  which 
so  far  transcends  the  ordinary  manifestations  of  it  in  our 
hearts,  being  a  real  suffering  together  with  those  whom  He 
pitied.  Our  selfishness  puts  an  armour  of  brass  over  our 
hearts,  through  which  the  sharp  point  of  others'  woes 
scarcely  reaches  us,  except  as  a  dull  blow  that  does  not 
pierce  deeply  enough  to  bring  the  blood ;  but  Jesus  came 
among  men  with  His  naked  breast  exposed  to  all  the  slings 


40  GLIMPSES   OF   THE   HEART  OF  JESUS. 

and  arrows  that  were  showered  on  all,  and  He  was  sore 
wounded  by  them  all.     His  pity  was  His  life.     He  was  a 
Man  of  sorrows  because  He  bare  our  griefs  and  carried  our 
sorrows,  and  the  burden  was  laid  upon  His  shoulders  by  the 
perfectness  of  His  pity  which  made  them  all  His  own,  long 
before  He  fainted  beneath  the  cross  on  the  short  journey 
from    the    judgment-hall    to    Calvary.     Christ's    pity   was 
essential  to  His  service  of  men.     "Looking  up  to  heaven, 
He  sighed,  and  said,  Ephphatha."     The  sigh  had  to  come 
before  the  word  of  power  could  come.     He  was  not  only 
impelled  to  put  forth  His  miraculous  power  by  the  cries  of 
the  sufferers  or  of  their  intercessors,  but  sometimes  by  the 
quick  spontaneous  outgoing  of  His  own  pity.     Before  men 
called   He  answered,  for  His  own  heart  anticipated  their 
desires.     His  pity  was  no  luxurious  idle  emotion,  but  the 
impulse  to  action.    The  like  should  be  true  of  all  Christians. 
No   help  can  be  rightly  rendered  unless  it  come  from   a 
sympathetic  heart.      Much  Christian  work  is  spoiled  and 
made  worse  than  useless  by  being  done  in  hard,  supercilious 
fashion.     Benefits  need  to  be  wrapped  in  softest  down  of 
sympathy,  or  they  will  cut  the  hand  that  receives  them.     A 
man  may  be  knocked  down  by  a  charitable  gift  flung  at  his 
head  like  a  stone.     For  all  forms  of  Christian  service  the 
law  is  valid — without   sympathy  no   good    will  be   done. 
Nor  is  the  converse  less  needful  to  remember — that  with- 
out practical  issues  no  sympathy  is  worth  anything.     Not 
merely  is  it  useless  to  benefit  the  sufferers,  but  it  harms  the 
person  cherishing  it.     Every  emotion  which  is  allowed  to 
rise  and  pass  without  its  appropriate  action  tends  to  harden 
the  heart.     If  mercy  is  twice  blessed,  lazy  compassion  is 
twice  cursed. 

Christ's  sympathy  clings   to  Him   still,  and  is   a  per- 


GLIMPSES   OF   THE   HEART   OF  JESUS.  4I 

manent  attribute  of  His  perpetual  and  exalted  manhood. 
He  bears  our  griefs  on  His  heart  now,  and  bends  over 
us  each  with  as  true  a  knowledge  of  our  trouble,  and  as 
complete  a  partaking  of  it,  as  when  on  earth  He  wept  by 
the  grave  of  Lazarus,  or  felt  the  loneliness  of  that  sonless 
widow.  If  our  griefs  be  small  and  affecting  mainly  our 
material  fortunes,  we  may  take  heart  to  believe  that  since 
they  are  great  enough  to  trouble  us  they  are  not  too  small 
to  move  His  sympathy,  when  we  remember  that  He  Him- 
self declared  that  He  "had  compassion  on  the  multitude" 
because  ihey  were  hungry. 

n.  We   note    the   Christ    who    feels  anger,   grief,  and 
wonder  because  of  men's  evil. 

We  find  one  instance  in  ch.  iii.  5,  in  which  He  "  looked 
on  them  with  anger,  being  grieved  at  the  hardening  of  their 
heart."  The  word  rendered  "grieved "  is  a  compound  term 
expressing  the  coexistence  of  some  other  feeling  with  the 
anger.  Again  we  find  (ch.  x.  14)  that  our  Lord  was 
"  moved  with  indignation  "  (R.V.).  In  the  first  case,  the 
cause  of  the  anger  was  the  obstinate  and  increasing 
obduracy  of  the  Pharisees,  who  had  no  eyes  for  anything 
but  a  breach  of  ceremonial  law,  into  which  they  hoped  He 
would  be  led.  All  the  beauty  of  His  character,  all  the 
power  of  His  words,  the  mystery  of  His  miraculous  working, 
the  joy  of  the  cured  man,  were  nothing  to  them.  That  the 
cure  was  a  miracle  brought  no  conviction  to  their  minds, 
which  could  only  grasp  the  fact  that  the  miracle  was  a 
breach  of  rabbinical  law.  In  the  second  case,  the  disciples, 
as  it  were,  dammed  up  the  flow  of  His  tenderness  and 
interfered  with  access  to  His  mercy.  So  the  evils  which 
especially  drew  forth  His  anger  were  not  the  gross  flagrant 
transgressions  of  notorious  evil  livers,  but  the  sins  of  formal 


42  GLIMPSES   OF  THE  HEART  OF  JESUS. 

religionists  to  whom  sacrifice  was  more  than  mercy,  and  of 
disciples  who  had  imperfectly  apprehended  the  continual  flow 
and  width  of  His  love.  Surely  the  lesson  is  needed  at  all 
times  and  in  all  Churches.  Nothing  more  effectually  blinds 
to  the  highest  vision  of  Jesus  Christ  than  a  pedantic  over- 
estimate of  the  mere  externals  of  religion.  How  many  of 
us  would  not  listen  to  a  prophet  or  to  Christ  Himself,  if  He 
neglected  or  brushed  aside  our  jealously  guarded  ceremonials 
and  proprieties  of  worship  !  On  the  other  hand,  how  often 
Christian  Churches  and  individuals  have,  like  the  disciples, 
put  hindrances  in  the  way  of  the  "  little  ones  "  coming  to 
Him  !  How  often  have  misplaced  regard  for  the  honour  of 
the  Master,  and  other  even  less  reputable  motives,  forbidden 
humble  souls  to  draw  near  for  His  embracing  arm  and  the 
benediction  of  His  lips !  A  sharper  accent  marks  Christ's 
rebuke  to  His  disciples,  who  cluster  round  Him  like  a  body- 
guard to  keep  off  the  profane,  lest  they  should  by  their 
continual  coming  weary  Him,  than  that  which  remonstrated 
with  far  more  coarse  guilt. 

But  that  anger  was  not  all  which  these  sins  excited 
in  His  heart.  Through  the  thunder-cloud  looked  the  sun, 
and  across  the  heavy  drops  was  flung  the  rainbow.  Grief 
blended  with  Christ's  anger.  Both  emotions  must  be  in 
that  perfect  manhood,  which  is  at  once  the  realization  of 
the  human  ideal  and  the  revelation  of  the  Divine  reality. 
Their  union  saves  us  from  the  misconception  of  His  anger. 
There  can  be  no  heat  of  passion  in  it,  for  it  burns  side 
by  side  with  a  great  fountain  of  sorrowing  pity  which  would 
quench  any  such  blaze  of  wrath.  His  anger  is  a  noble 
Divine  aversion  from  evil.  Unless  Jesus  is  but  half  a  man 
and  maimed  of  an  essential  element  in  healthy  and  whole- 
souled  humanity,  there  must  be  in  Him  a  true  recognition 


GLIMPSES  OF  THE   HEART   OF  JESUS.  43 

of  the  badness  of  bad  things  and  an  indignant  recoil  from 
these.  Nor  is  such  aversion  less  inseparable  from  lofty 
conceptions  of  the  Divine  nature  than  from  true  ones  of 
the  human.  Nor  is  there  any  malevolence  in  Christ's 
anger.  It  is  but  a  low  kind  of  anger  which  includes  the 
desire  for  evil  on  its  objects.  The  highest  kind  necessarily 
includes  the  opposite  desire,  as  every  parent  and  child 
knows.  Evil-doers  are  to  be  blamed  but  pitied  too,  and 
however  rigorously  retribution  may  be  awarded  to  them, 
compassion  is  not  to  be  withheld.  Jesus  saw  the  essential 
character  of  sin  as  none  else  can  do,  and  He  knew  its  issue. 
Therefore  He  *'  grieved  "  and  "  was  angry,"  in  a  blended 
stream  of  emotion  wherein  the  darker  current  neighboured 
without  weakening  the  other,  which  in  turn  accompanied 
and  softened  without  diluting  its  sister-flow. 

That  union  of  anger  and  grief  saves  us  from  exaggeration 
of  His  pity,  as  if  He  could  not  condemn  or  punish.  His 
compassion  does  not  contradict,  nor  put  in  the  background, 
the  certainty  of  His  righteous  judgment.  The  two  are 
perfectly  harmonious.  The  tears  that  fell  for  Jerusalem 
did  not  hinder  Him  from  pronouncing  her  doom,  nor  did 
the  judicial  act  of  sentencing  arrest  the  tears.  Many  modern 
representations  of  the  gentle  Christ  need  correction,  for 
what  they  call  gentleness  is  nothing  nobler  than  weakness. 
Let  us  not  forget  that  the  Lamb  of  God  is  the  Lion  of 
Judah,  and  that  even  the  Lamb  "has  seven  horns."  All 
ruth  and  pity  are  in  Him,  but  in  Him,  too,  are  righteous 
anger  and  fiery  indignation.  The  revelations  of  an  earlier 
time  are  not  cancelled.  God  in  Christ  is  still  "  a  consuming 
fire,"  but  in  Him  we  learn  that  side  by  side  with  that  fire, 
or  perhaps  we  may  even  say,  as  a  necessary  element  in  it, 
burns  lambent  the  white  flame  of  infinite  tenderness  and 


44  GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HEART  OF  JESUS. 

pity.  In  their  deepest  roots  wrath  and  pity  are  one,  even 
as  the  heat  which  blisters  and  the  Hght  which  gladdens  have 
the  same  source. 

But  there  is  another  glimpse  given  us  by  Mark  of  the 
manner  in  which  men's  evils  affected  Jesus,  in  that  remark- 
able expression  that  He  "marvelled  at  their  unbelief" 
(ch.  vi.  6).  We  are  apt  to  wonder  that  Christ  could 
wonder,  seeing  that  He  knew  what  was  in  man.  But  His 
manhood  was  under  distinct  limitations  in  regard  to  know- 
ledge, and  the  fact  that  He  shared  that  feeling  too  is 
precious,  as  attesting  how  truly  He  emptied  Himself  of 
His  glory  when  He  assumed  the  fashion  of  a  man.  In 
another  place  we  read  that  He  also  wondered  with  happier 
wonder  at  the  ripe  faith  of  a  heathen.  Here  He  marvels 
at  the  dogged  unbelief  of  "  His  own."  If  unbelief  evoked 
Christ's  astonishment,  how  unreasonable  and  contrary  to 
all  probability  it  must  be!  It  may  have  an  "excuse,"  or 
rather  those  guilty  of  it  may  "make  excuses"  for  it;  but 
these  are  only  got  up  for  show,  and  are  not  its  real  reason, 
which  is  found  in  that  perfection  of  unreason  which  prefers 
death  to  life.  The  mystery  of  the  world  is  sin.  If  we 
could  explain  it,  we  should  know  all  things.  It  can  give 
no  rational  account  of  itself.  Try  to  put  the  reasons  for  it 
into  plain  words,  and  their  blank  irrationality  is  manifest. 
What  reason  can  there  be  why  men  should  be  blind  to 
facts  which  stare  them  in  the  face,  and  should  deliberately 
choose  ruin,  and  turn  away  from  their  highest  good,  and, 
admitting  the  most  tremendous  truths,  should  straightway 
proceed  to  huddle  them  out  of  sight  lest  they  should  in- 
fluence conduct  ?  All  sin  is  flagrant  unreason,  and  nothing 
is  more  marvellous  than  that  the  beauty  and  sweetness 
of  Jesus  should  be  resisted,  and  His  offered  gifts  refused. 


GLIMPSES  OF   THE  HEART  OF  JESUS.  45 

His  meek  heart  had  been  well  schooled  in  the  possibilities 
of  men's  unkindness  and  contempt ;  but,  even  in  its  calm, 
a  moment  of  wonder  rose  when  once  again  He  was  forced 
to  feel  that  He  called  in  vain,  and  in  vain  loved.  Thus 
His  whole  soul  was  disturbed  by  contact  with  sin.  It  left 
Him  grieved  and  hurt,  wounded  and  saddened.  The 
compulsory  association  of  some  pure  heart  with  criminals 
and  profligates,  as  in  some  prison  where  an  innocent  man 
is  shut  up  with  criminals,  and  "  vexed  "  in  soul  with  their 
"filthy  conversation,"  is  but  a  faint  shadow  of  what  Christ 
bore  all  His  life  long.  He  was  "  a  Man  of  sorrows,  and 
acquainted  with  grief,"  because  He  "  dwelt  among  them 
that  are  set  on  fire,"  and  all  this  sorrow,  pity,  and  wonder 
He  bore  because  He  loved  the  men  who  thus  tortured  Him, 
even  as  He  loves  us  who  can  still  grieve  Him,  and  may 
still  find  balm  in  His  compassion. 

HI.  We  note,  further,  the  Christ  yearning  in  love  towards 
very  imperfect  desires  after  good. 

Mark  tells  us  that  Jesus  "  looking  upon "  the  young 
ruler  "  loved  him."  There  was  much  about  the  youth  to 
draw  out  love.  He  was  ingenuous,  earnest  in  his  desire  to 
do  right,  had  restrained  his  passions  in  his  hot  early  man- 
hood, and  aspired  with  some  genuine  lifting  of  desire  after 
the  world  to  come.  But  there  were  flaws  in  his  character 
which  Jesus  manifestly  read  from  the  beginning  of  the 
conversation.  He  had  but  a  superficial  notion  of  goodness, 
and  a  false  conception  of  the  requisites  for  inheriting 
eternal  life.  To  him  "good"  was  a  thing  to  "do,"  and 
"  eternal  life  "  was  wholly  future,  and  was  payment  for  acts 
done  here,  not  because  he  loved  them,  but  because  he  wanted 
their  wages.  He  had  so  little  apprehension  of  the  sweep 
of  the  Divine  Law,  that  he  was  certain  that  his  obedience 


46  GLIMPSES  OF  THE   HEART  OF  JESUS. 

had  been  comprehensive  of  all  its  precepts  and  unbroken 
through  his  life.  And  when  the  final  test  was  put  he  failed, 
and  thereby  proved  that  there  was  something  in  him  deeper 
than  the  desire  for  goodness  or  for  eternal  life.  Yet,  for  all 
the  flaws,  Jesus  loved  him,  and  would  fain  have  drawn  wholly 
to  Himself  a  character  with  so  many  buds  of  promise  in  it. 

The  great  heart  of  Jesus  Christ  has  room  in  it  for  all 
evil-doers,  and  bends  with  pitying  sorrow  over  debased 
wills  that  cleave  to  earth,  and  paralyzed  spirits  that  have 
no  touch  of  aspiration  after  things  lovely  and  of  good 
report.  His  love  rests  with  peculiar  tenderness  on  those 
who  have  yielded  themselves  wholly  to  Him  and  are 
walking  in  the  light  with  Him.  But  there  is  a  third  class, 
touched  with  yearning  after  something  higher  than  they 
possess,  and  yet  not  brought  to  the  point  of  following  Jesus 
with  clear  resolve  and  entire  surrender ;  and  on  these,  too, 
His  love  falls.  A  harsh  word,  like  a  hasty  blow  struck  at 
a  feeble  fire,  may  put  out  a  spark  which  care  would  have 
fostered ;  but  Jesus  does  not  "  quench  the  dimly  burning 
wick,"  nor  frown  away  imperfect  seekers  after  a  better  life. 
What  would  become  of  any  of  us,  if  He  was  not  patient 
with  partial  knowledge  and  superficial  conceptions  of  good  ? 
It  befits  His  followers  to  cherish  the  beginnings  and  faint 
dawnings  of  such  in  others,  as  their  Lord  did,  and  as  they 
themselves  need  that  He  should  do  with  them.  For  the 
most  advanced  and  perfect  saint  on  earth  is  nearer  the 
most  incomplete  beginner  who  has  but  turned  his  face 
to  the  far-off  light,  than  he  is  to  the  light  to  which  both 
are  looking  and  neither  have  attained.  Degrees  of  imper- 
fection should  not  despise  one  another.  One  arc  of  a  circle 
may  be  swept  through  more  degrees  of  circumference  than 
another,  but  it  is  only  an  unfinished  arc  after  all. 


GLIMPSES   OF   THE   HEART   OF   JESUS.  47 

Christ's  love  for  imperfect  goodness  is  shown  in  His  clear 
laying  down  of  the  stringent  conditions  with  which  it  must 
comply  in  order  to  be  complete.  It  was  precisely  because 
Jesus,  looking  on  His  youthful  and  eager  questioner,  "loved 
him,"  that  "  He  said  unto  him,  One  thing  thou  lackest,"  and 
demanded  of  him  the  surrender  of  all  that  he  had,  and  the 
following  of  Him.  Frankness  is  the  truest  kindness.  What 
such  characters  as  the  ruler's  most  need  is  to  see  clearly  that 
aspirations  and  outward  acts  are  not  enough,  and  that  it  is 
no  slight  matter  to  be  "good,"  but  one  demanding  the 
entire  suppression  of  self  and  the  use  of  all  possessions  as 
auxiUary  thereto.  He  had  been  playing  with  wishes  and 
surface  virtues  long  enough.  If  he  were  in  earnest,  he 
would  welcome  the  call  which  showed  him  the  depths.  If 
he  were  not  in  earnest,  the  kindest  thing  to  do  for  him  was 
to  make  him  conscious  that  he  was  not.  Therefore  our 
Lord  did  not  hesitate  to  put  the  condition  of  discipleship  in 
the  form  that  would  most  sharply  test  the  depth  and  sove- 
reignty of  the  "will  to  be  perfect."  The  thin  veneer  of 
noble  aspiration  fell  away,  and  the  solid  basis  of  worldly  and 
self-regarding  worldUness  stood  confessed.  So  much  the 
better  for  the  man ;  for  now  that  he  knew  what  to  do,  and 
that  his  wealth  was  the  hindrance  to  his  doing  it,  there  was 
some  possibility  that  present  refusal  might  lead  to  searchings 
of  heart,  and  that  at  a  future  time  he  might  be  ready  to 
accept  as  a  joy  what  he  now  shrank  from  as  too  great  a 
sacrifice.  We  may  be  sure  that  the  love  which  laid  down  the 
conditions  did  not  turn  away  from  him  when  he  recoiled 
from  them,  nor  cease  to  follow  the  young  heart  which  had 
been  touched  with  real  though  imperfect  longings,  though 
its  owner  ceased  for  the  moment  to  follow  Jesus.  Still  He 
looks  with  love  on  such  hearts,  and  still  His  best  gift  to 


48  GLIMPSES   OF   THE   HEART   OF  JESUS. 

them  is  the  clear  call  to  full  surrender,  in  which  alone  they 
will  find  the  satisfaction  of  their  desires,  and  be  the  objects 
of  His  yet  tenderer  love. 

IV.    We  note,  finally,  Christ  bowed  down   under  the 
burden  of  the  world's  sin. 

We  turn  lastly  to  Mark's  account  of  Gethsemane,  con- 
cerning which  the  less  we  say  the  less  shall  we  err.  "  Put 
off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet."  Cold  analysis  is  out  of 
place,  but  a  reverent  word  or  two  may  be  permitted.  We 
get  a  glimpse  of  Jesus  beneath  the  olives  by  the  quivering 
moonlight,  as  one  may  see  by  a  lightning-flash  through  the 
darkness  of  storm  a  labouring  ship  out  on  a  wild  sea. 
Mark  employs  two  words  to  indicate  Christ's  emotions  at 
that  dread  hour.  "Greatly  amazed"  is  perhaps  scarcely 
strong  enough  to  modern  ears  to  represent  the  mental 
condition  intended,  since  astonishmetit  has  encroached 
on  bewilderment,  which  is  the  true  idea  of  "  amazed." 
"  Appalled "  or  "  stupefied "  would  probably  convey  the 
meaning  more  clearly.  The  other  expression  is  better  given 
by  the  Revised  Version  as  "  sore  troubled "  than  by  the 
Authorized  Version's  "  very  heavy."  To  these  two  pathetic 
words  we  have  to  add  our  Lord's  own  unique  acknowledg- 
ment of  weakness  and  appeal  for  sympathy,  "  My  soul 
is  exceeding  sorrowful,  even  unto  death,"  in  which  the 
word  rendered  "exceeding  sorrowful"  suggests  the  image 
of  sorrows  as  ringing  Him  round  in  an  unbroken  circle. 
That  strong  expression,  "  unto  death,"  must  not  be  weak- 
ened into  a  mere  superlative,  but  taken  in  its  literal  force 
as  implying  that  the  grief  was  all  but  fatal.  One  turn  more 
of  the  rack  and  actual  death  would  have  ensued.  Well 
may  such  a  state  be  called,  as  it  is  by  Luke,  "  agony." 

Now  we  may  reverently  ask  what  it  was  which  thus 


GLIMPSES   OF   THE   HEART   OF  JESUS.  49 

appalled  and  all  but  crushed  Him,  and  we  shall  answer  the 
question  most  unworthily  and  inadequately  if  we  suppose 
that  it  was  merely  the  apprehension  of  approaching  death. 
Such  an  explanation  dishonours  Him,  putting  Him  lower  in 
fortitude  than  many  of  His  servants,  who  have  drawn  their 
calmness  in  the  prospect  and  actual  suffering  of  martyrdom 
from  Him;  and  it  is  transparently  insufficient.  A  far 
heavier  weight  than  that  pressed  Him  down,  even  the  burden 
of  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,  which  then  met  on  Him,  not 
only  because,  in  His  perfect  sympathy  and  self-oblivion,  He 
identified  Himself  with  sinful  men,  but  also  because,  in  a 
manner  which  we  cannot  explain  but  must  accept,  if  we 
would  do  justice  to  Scripture  teaching,  "  the  Lord  made  to 
meet  on  Him  the  iniquity  of  us  all."  Unless  the  element 
of  vicarious  suffering  entered  into  that  mysterious  agony,  it 
will  be  very  hard  to  account  for  it  in  any  manner  which  will 
save  the  character  of  Jesus  from  disadvantageous  compari- 
sons with  that  of  many  a  saint,  hero,  and  sage.  Socrates 
with  his  hemlock-cup,  and  not  a  few  other  dying  men,  are  far 
nobler  persons  than  this  shuddering  Suppliant  beneath  the 
trembling  olives,  unless  His  agony  was  caused  by  something 
much  deeper  than  the  natural  recoil  of  the  living  from  death. 
The  world  for  nearly  nineteen  centuries  has  bowed  in  reve- 
rence before  that  pathetic  picture  of  Christ  in  Gethsemane. 
Why  ?  Be  it  reverently  said,  that  unless  the  picture  shows  us 
"the  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world," 
it  shows  us  a  very  weak  man,  unmanned  by  what  thousands 
have  faced  far  better  than  He  did. 

Such  are  the  glimpses  which  this  evangelist  affords  of  that 
infinite  heart.  It  is  full  to-day  of  all  the  tenderness  and 
pitying  love  which  filled  it  in  that  past.  It  bled  and  ached 
for  us  while  it  beat  on  earth,  and  it  still  wells  over  with 

E — 2 


50  GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HEART  OF  JESUS. 

fellow-feeling  for  the  sorrows,  and  pitying  disapproval  of 
the  sins,  of  each  of  us.  Some  shade  of  sadness  perhaps 
flits  across  even  the  joy  of  the  Lord,  when  His  brethren, 
whom  He  loved  to  the  death,  turn  from  His  love,  and  it 
may  still  be  possible  for  us  to  grieve  Him.  Be  that  as  it 
may.  He  loves  and  pities  all.  Each  may  say,  "  He  loves  me, 
and  I  have  a  place  in  that  heart."  Let  us  turn  our  eyes  to 
behold  and  our  hearts  to  love  that  sum  of  all  beauty  and 
infinite  mine  of  all  human  and  Divine  perfection  made 
known  to  us  in  the  heart  of  Jesus.  The  glimpses  which  we 
have  into  it  here  are  blessedness.  To  know  it  fully  is 
heaven. 


GATHERED   IN    PEACE. 


GATHERED  IN  PEACE. 

"  Behold,  I  will  gather  thee  to  thy  fathers,  and  thou  shalt  be  gathered 
to  thy  grave  in  peace." — 2  Chron.  xxxiv.  28. 

"  The  archers  shot  at  King  Josiah  ;  and  the  king  said  unto  his 
servants.  Have  me  away ;  for  I  am  sore  wounded.  .  .  .  And  they 
brought  him  to  Jerusalem,  and  he  died." — 2  Chron.  xxxv.  23,  24. 

In  these  two  passages  we  have  a  prophecy  and  its  fulfilment. 
The  event  seems  strangely  unlike  the  prediction,  *'  I  will 
gather  thee  to  thy  fathers  in  peace."  Is  that  fulfilled  by  the 
keen  arrow,  and  the  blood  dropping  from  the  king's  heart  on 
the  floor  of  the  chariot,  and  the  premature  death  ?  Even  so. 
Josiah,  the  King  of  Judah,  to  whom  these  words  were  spoken, 
and  in  whose  death  they  were  so  strangely  accomplished,  had 
been  smitten  by  the  sudden  discovery  of  the  departure  of 
himself  and  his  nation  from  the  precepts  of  the  book  of  the 
Law,  which  had  been  found  during  the  restoration  of  the 
neglected  temple.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  enter  at  all  on 
the  questions  of  present  interest  connected  with  that  dis- 
covery. Whatever  that  book  was,  and  whether,  as  is 
thought  by  many  now,  those  who  hid  knew  where  to  find, 
the  effect  produced  on  the  king  was  horror  and  penitence. 
He  bade  his  advisers  "inquire  of  the  Lord"  for  him 
and  his  diminished  people  "  concerning  the  words  of  this 
book  " — apparently  whether  there  was  possibility  of  avert- 
ing  its   threatenings.     Remarkably,  the   godly  counsellors 


54  GATHERED   IN   PEACE. 

turned  at  once  to  a  woman,  the  wife  of  an  inferior  officer, 
who  seems  to  have  been  principally  known  as  his  father's 
son,  and  from  Huldah  the  prophetess  they  received  the 
answer  of  which  our  first  text  is  part.  The  judgments  on  the 
nation  were  declared  irreversible,  but  the  penitence  of  the 
king  opened  a  way  for  his  individual  safety.  Threatening 
and  pardon  were  both  revealed  in  the  answer.  Because 
Josiah's  heart  was  tender,  and  he  had  humbled  himself 
before  God,  therefore  the  mitigation  announced  in  the 
former  of  our  texts  should  be  extended  to  him.  Then,  some 
twelve  or  fourteen  years  after,  came  the  bloody  death  in 
battle,  which  seems  to  give  the  lie  to  the  prophetess's 
assurance.  It  is  worth  while  to  lay  the  two  side  by  side 
and  gather  the  lessons  of  the  juxtaposition. 

I.  We  may  first  notice  how  these  two  passages  of  Scrip- 
ture disclose  the  true  Worker  at  the  centre  of  things. 

"  /will  gather  thee,"  says  God,  speaking  through  Huldah. 
We  turn  the  page,  and  where  do  we  see  His  hand  in  the 
story  of  vulgar  motives  and  godless  strife  ?     Josiah's  death 
came  about  as  "  naturally "  as   possible,  as   the   sequel  of 
conflicts  with  which  he  had  nothing  directly  to  do.     The 
chronic  strife   between   Egypt   and   the  kingdoms   to   the 
north  of  Judah  had  broken  out  again.    This  time  the  reign- 
ing Pharaoh  was  on  his  march  against  the  strong  Carche- 
mish,   which   has   recently,   after  so  many  millenniums  of 
eclipse,  become  more  than  a   name   to   us.     He  had  no 
quarrel  with  Josiah,  who  seems  to  have  pushed  himself  into 
the  strife  quite  unnecessarily,  with  wrong-headed  haste  and 
obstinacy,  in  spite  of  the  dignified  and  kindly  remonstrances 
of  the  King  of  Egypt.     The  latter  asserts  his  Divine  com- 
mission, which  he  does  not  trace   to   any  Egyptian  deity, 
but  to  "  God,"  and  which  he  warns  Josiah,  as  a  worshipper 


GATHERED   IN   PEACE.  5,5^ 

of  God,  from  opposing  to  his  own  ruin.  The  Chronicler 
endorses  Pharaoh's  claim,  and  declares  his  words  to  have 
been  "  from  the  mouth  of  God."  So  God  sought  to  stay 
Josiah  from  the  rashness  which  was  to  be  his  ruin,  even 
though  that  ruin  was  determined,  and  determined  to  be 
effected  by  that  act.  Men  are  the  authors  of  their  own  fall, 
and  if  they  rush  to  their  deaths,  it  is  by  their  own  obstinacy, 
in  spite  of  Divine  warnings.  God  can  speak  through  a 
heathen  king's  lips,  and  good  counsel  has  ever  its  source 
in  Him,  whatever  be  its  channel.  But  if  Josiah  will  be 
obstinate,  and  mix  himself  up  in  a  quarrel  which  is  not  his, 
God  works  out  His  purposes  through  even  the  obstinacy  of 
one  man  and  the  ambitions  of  another.  Then  came  the 
fatal  skirmish  on  that  plain  of  Megiddo,  which  has  run  witli 
blood  so  often  from  the  days  of  Deborah  and  Barak  down 
to  almost  our  own,  and  perhaps  has  not  yet  heard  for  the 
last  time  "  the  noise  of  the  captains  and  the  shouting,"  nor 
seen  Kishon  sending  a  reddened  current  to  the  sea.  The 
poor  precaution  of  a  disguise  availed  nothing  for  the  hapless 
king.  The  archer's  bow  drawn  at  a  venture  sent  an 
unaimed  arrow,  which  a  Divine  hand  directed,  into  his  side. 
Lifted  into  a  spare  chariot,  he  lived  over  the  jolting  and 
agony  of  a  swift  flight  to  Jerusalem,  and  there  died — one 
of  the  best  of  the  kings  of  Judah,  mourned  by  a  nation's 
tears,  and  having  thrown  away  his  life  out  of  pure  wilfulness. 
And  all  this  play  of  commonplace  motives — Pharaoh's 
pugnacity,  Josiah's  obstinacy,  the  forgotten  politics  of  two 
empires,  the  chance  arrow  of  an  unconscious  archer — is  the 
fulfilment  of  that  word,  "/will  gather  thee  to  thy  fathers." 
Is  not  this  a  penetrating  glance  beneath  the  whirhng 
surface  ?  Sometimes  one  sees  on  a  swift  river  a  tiny 
whirlpool,  opening  a  pit  an  inch  or  two  deep  into  the  tawny 


yS  GATHERED   IN    PEACE. 

raging  flood.  So  here  is,  as  it  were,  an  eddy  in  the  stream, 
that  goes  down  to  the  very  bottom  and  shows  us  the  bed. 
We  look  through  the  cross-play  of  human  purposes  and  acts, 
which  are  in  themselves  cognizant  of  nothing  more  than 
themselves,  and  discern  what  is  really  at  work,  determining 
their  flow,  and  dashing  one  against  the  other  or  blending 
them  in  smooth  flow. 

Now,  we  say  that  we  believe  this  and  regard  it  as  such 
a  commonplace,  that  it  is  scarcely  worth  my  while  to  repeat 
it,  or  yours  to  listen  to  it.  But  do  we  carry  that  steady  eye 
which  looks  through  all  the  play  of  so-called  causes,  and 
discerns  God's  hand  in  them  all?  Is  it  a  living,  ever-present 
conviction  with  us,  influencing  all  our  lives  and  thoughts? 
If  we  really  believed  it — and  we  do  not  really  believe  anything 
that  is  not  present  with  us,  shaping  our  habitual  thinking — 
how  difterent  everything  else  would  look !  It  is  easy  for  us 
to  set  metaphysical  puzzles.  Any  quantity  of  such  may  be 
picked  up  anywhere.  But  the  old  thought,  which  is  here 
illustrated  anew,  has  practical  and  devotional  uses  so 
manifold  and  valuable  that  we  cannot  aflbrd  to  dismiss  it  as 
a  commonplace.  Commonplaces  have  to  be  reiterated  till 
they  are  incorporated  with  the  web  of  our  thoughts,  far 
more  thoroughly  than  this  one  has  yet  become  in  the  case 
of  any  of  us.  Not  till  we  habitually  see  a  present  God 
working  everywhere,  and  all  things  become  transparent  to 
His  light,  shining  through  them  to  our  eyes,  can  we  afford 
to  put  aside  this  truth  as  threadbare.  If  it  ruled  in  us  as  it 
should  do,  how  it  would  nourish  faith  and  stimulate  effort ; 
how  it  would  strengthen  resignation  and  unreluctant 
submission ;  how  it  would  deliver  from  vain  and  weakening 
regrets ;  how  it  would  keep  us  from  being  angry  with  anything, 
or  fretted  with  carking  cares  which  gnaw  at  the  very  seat  of 


GATHERED   IN   PEACE.  57 

life  !  If  we  saw  God  working  everywhere  and  always,  we 
should  not  be  jaded  with  futile  effort,  nor  disappointed  or 
despairing,  nor  should  we  live  among  the  tombs  of  a  dead 
and  buried  past,  and  be  blind  to  the  worth  of  the  living 
present.  If  we  heard  God  speaking  through  all  voices  and 
sounds,  whether  of  tempest  and  thunder,  or  of  harpers 
harping  with  their  harps,  and  saw  His  mighty  hand  moving 
all  that  moves,  and  His  will  dominant  in  all,  fear  would  be 
far  from  us,  and  sorrow  would  wear  a  benignant  cheer,  and 
in  our  hearts  would  dwell  the  great  peace,  which  is  the 
dower  of  him  who  says,  "  It  is  the  Lord;  let  Him  do  what 
seemeth  Him  good."  Let  us  pray  and  strive  for  the  clear  and 
constant  vision  which  looks  through  the  things  seen,  which 
are  but  recipients  and  transmitters  of  power,  to  the  energy 
which  they  receive  and  transmit.  "  I  will  gather  thee  to 
thy  fathers,"  though  the  instruments  be  thine  own  obstinacy, 
the  conPiict  of  heathen  powers,  and  the  arrow  of  an  ignorant 
bowman,  who  aimed  at  nothing,  and  never  knew  that  he 
had  killed  a  king  and  executed  a  Divine  sentence. 

II.  There  is,  further,  in  these  words  a  glimpse,  though 
it  be  but  dim,  into  the  regions  beyond  the  grave. 

The  two  expressions  in  the  former  of  these  texts  are  by 
no  means  synonymous.  "  I  will  gather  thee  to  thy  fathers" 
is  one  thing;  "Thou  shalt  be  gathered  to  thy  grave  in 
peace  "  is  quite  another.  The  former  phrase  seldom  occurs 
in  the  Old  Testament,  and  never  is  found  in  the  New.  It 
appears  principally  in  the  Pentateuch,  and  in  the  closely 
related  Book  of  Judges,  and  in  these  is  found  in  a  slightly 
different  form,  namely,  "gathered  to  thy  people"  instead  of 
"  to  thy  fathers."  It  is  used  in  that  shape  in  reference  to 
the  deaths  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  Ishmael,  Aaron,  and 
Moses.      The  generation   contemporary   with   Joshua   are 


58  GATHERED  IN    PEACE. 

spoken  of  as  being  "gathered  to  their  fathers,"  and  the 
same  expression  is  employed  in  our  text  and  in  the  parallel 
in  2  Kings,  The  variation  of  "  people  "  and  "  fathers  " 
is  natural.  The  former  phrase  is  applied  to  the  fathers 
themselves,  beyond  whom  the  vision  of  their  descendants 
did  not  travel  backwards,  whereas  the  latter  is  fitting  when 
applied  to  later  generations,  to  whom  union  with  the 
venerable  ancestors  of  the  nation  was  honour.  Now,  this 
"  gathering  to  thy  people  "  or  "  thy  fathers  "  is  distinctly 
separated  from  both  death  and  burial.  The  account  of  the 
last  days  of  Abraham  (Gen.  xxv.  8)  is  a  fair  specimen  of  all 
the  narratives  in  which  this  expression  occurs,  and  in  it 
three  stages  are  clearly  distinguished:  "Abraham  gave  up  the 
ghost,  and  died  .  .  .  and  was  gathered  to  his  people.  And 
Isaac  and  Ishmael  his  sons  buried  him."  The  lonely  tomb 
on  Mount  Hor  did  not  hinder  Aaron's  being  gathered  to  his 
people,  nor  did  the  mysterious  burial  on  Nebo  shut  out 
Moses  from  their  society.  That  conception  of  accession  to 
the  great  company  somewhere  is  no  mere  euphemism  for 
death,  and  still  less  refers  to  what  may  afterwards  befall  the 
body  of  the  dead  man.  If,  then,  we  are  led,  in  all  honesty 
of  interpretation,  to  exclude  both  death  and  burial  from  the 
meaning  of  the  phrase,  what  remains  but  to  regard  it  as  a  faint 
gleam  of  insight  into  the  condition,  after  death  and  burial,  of 
the  true  self,  which  passes  through  death  undying,  and  is  not 
laid  to  moulder  with  the  disused  garment  of  flesh  ?  The 
Cuneiform  inscriptions  have  taught  us  how  developed  the 
doctrine  of  a  future  life  was  in  Abraham's  native  country, 
and  there  is  nothing  improbable  now  in  ascribing  some 
share  in  that  knowledge  to  Israel,  however  faint  the  traces 
of  it  in  Scripture.  To  see  in  this  remarkable  phrase  the 
conception  of  a  future  social  life  is  not  to  read  later  ideas 


GATHERED  IN   PEACE.  59 

into  a  vague  expression,  which  we  make  unnecessarily 
definite,  but  not  to  see  that  thought  in  it  seems  rather  to 
evacuate  it  of  its  true  significance.  There  is  no  doubt  a 
danger,  against  which  we  are  abundantly  warned,  of  commit- 
ting the  anachronism  of  reading  the  results  of  later  Reve- 
lations into  the  earlier  records ;  but  there  is  also  a  danger, 
which  is  less  often  insisted  upon,  of  reading  out  of  the  earlier 
Revelations  what  is  really  in  them,  and  of  thus  exaggerating 
the  ignorance  of  early  ages. 

Surely  this  sweet  and  pathetic  expression  did  spring 
from,  and  did  suggest,  some  conceptions  of  a  hfe  beyond 
life,  in  which  those  who  have  lived  solitary  here  should  be 
knit  together  in  a  great  company.  In  the  earlier  form  the 
phrase  held  forth  the  hope  that,  after  death,  the  desert 
wanderers  should  join  the  community  to  which  they  be- 
longed, and  from  which  they  had  been  parted  in  life.  In 
its  later  form,  as  in  our  text,  it  gave  the  hope  that  the 
descendants  of  the  ancestors  who  had  become  august 
and  sacred  by  lapse  of  time  should  be  set  with  these 
venerated  heroes  and  patriarchs  of  the  nation,  and  that 
there  should  be,  somehow  and  somewhere,  as  it  were  a 
great  family  home  with  many  mansions,  where  the  kindred 
of  the  fathers  should  dwell.  The  principle  of  the  anticipated 
association  seems  to  have  been  purely  that  of  natural  kinship. 
The  children  of  Abraham  were  to  be  gathered  round  him, 
a  happy  clan  in  that  dim  world.  Beyond  these  two  ideas 
of  society  and  repose,  the  hope  expressed  in  this  phrase 
apparently  did  not  soar. 

But  we  may  use  the  earlier  and  inadequate  phrase  as 
the  vehicle  of  our  deeper  conceptions  and  higher  hopes. 
We  too  have  to  look  forward  to  a  state  where,  "  in  solemn 
troops  and  sweet  societies,"  souls  that  have  toiled  weary 


6o  GATHERED   IN    PEACE. 

and  lonely  through  the  changeful  desert  of  this  life,  shall 
find  at  last  rest  and  companionship,  and  shall  "  sit  down 
with  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob  in  the  kingdo-n  "  of  the 
great  Father  of  all.  The  earlier  hope  is  translated  into  a 
loftier,  for  we  know  that  the  principle  of  association  in  that 
solemn,  blessed  state,  where  perfect  society  is  realized  by 
hearts  isolated  in  life,  is  not  that  of  natural  but  of  spiritual 
affinity,  and  that  there  the  same  law  of  like  to  like,  which 
binds  happy  souls  to  their  Lord  and  to  one  another,  shall 
knit  other  spirits  alien  from  these  into  a  dark  confraternity 
of  repulsion  and  yet  of  contiguity. 

Here  and  now  men  are  grouped  by  other  uniting  forces, 
but  hereafter  spiritual  character  shall  determine  company 
and  sphere,  and  each  shall  find  himself  surrounded  by 
the  environment  of  persons  and  circumstance  for  which  he 
has  fitted  himself.  "What  maketh  heaven,  that  maketh 
hell."  That  is  manifoldly  true,  and  this  is  one  sphere  in 
which  it  holds.  "  Being  let  go,  they  went  unto  their  own 
company."  When  set  free  from  the  disturbing  influences  of 
life  here,  men  will  arrange  themselves  according  to  character. 
The  stones  on  the  eternal  shore  will  lie  in  order,  as  on 
some  beaches  we  see  the  heavier  blocks  laid  in  long  rows 
and  the  lighter  ranged  together,  and  then  the  sand.  The 
tide  has  sorted  them.  Life  classifies  and  aggregates  men, 
and  yonder  they  are  with  their  likes.  So  Judas  "  went  to 
his  own  place,"  wherever  that  may  have  been.  He  passed 
into  the  sphere  fitted  for  him,  and  there  found  others.  A 
solemn  law  of  spiritual  affinity  as  determining  the  future 
associations  of  each  lies  hid  in  the  old  words,  "I  will  gather 
thee  to  thy  fathers,"  and  still  more  clearly  in  the  other 
form  of  the  saying,  "  He  was  gathered  to  his  people." 

The  former  expression  suggests,  too,  the  hope  of  per- 


GATHERED   IN    PEACE.  6 1 

sonal  communion  with  the  venerable  names  whose  spiritual 
children  we  smaller  men  are  proud  to  call  ourselves.     A 
community  implies   communication,  and   a   gathering   to- 
gether of  spirits  which  forbade  intercourse  would  be  no 
gathering ;  for  spirits  are  not  together  by  juxtaposition,  but 
by  intercourse  and  affinity.     It  would  be  easy  to  let  fancy 
run  wild  in  pictures  of  that  intercourse,  and  to  summon  up 
a  long  list  of  glorious  names ;  but  the  fact  itself  is  more 
than  all  our  ignorant  amplifications  of  it,  and  the  vividness 
of  expectation  does  not  increase  with  the  increase  of  imagi- 
native details,  which  smother  rather  than  enforce  the  truth. 
It  is  enough  to  believe  that  those  who  are  united  to  the 
same  Lord  shall  form  a  real  unity,  which  necessarily  in- 
cludes communication.     The  future  is  set  forth  as  a  city. 
Are  the  citizens  not  to  exchange  thought  and  feeling  by 
some  better  means  than  words,  our  imperfect  medium  here  ? 
They  shall  dwell  in  deep  peace,  encompassed  by  congenial 
natures,  and  delivered  from  the  lifelong  torture  of  grating 
against  harsh  contraries  of  their  truest  selves.    While  they  are 
in  the  midst  of  their  own  people,  in  that  they  are  surrounded 
with  those  like  them,  they  shall  be  gathered  to  their  fathers, 
in  that  they  will  be  capable  of  association  with  those  who 
excel  them  in  strength,  and  are  before  them  in  spiritual 
stature.     The  whole  blissfiU  company  shall  partake  of  a 
common   progress,  yet   retaining   the   individuality  of  its 
separate  parts  and  the  unity  of  the  whole,  like  some  cloud 
saturated  with  sunshine,  and  slowly  drifting  nearer  the  sun. 
The  loftiest  will  be  the  helpful  companions  of  the  lowliest. 
The  unity  of  life  in  each  will  forbid  the  diverse  degrees 
of  life  from  becoming  barriers.     In  that  blessed  society  will 
be  both  impulse  and  rest.     The  same  law  will  work  in 
darker  fashion  in  souls  that  are  void  of  that  Christ-derived 


62  GATHERED   IN    PEACE. 

life ;  but  there  likeness  will  bring  no  repose,  and  the  com- 
munity of  alienation  from  God  will  ensure  no  community 
of  friendship  among  the  alienated.  It  is  conceivable  that 
such  aggregation  may  be  worse  than  solitude  or  than  hostile 
neighbourhood;  for  companions  in  evil  here  are  not  friends, 
and  yonder  the  same  result  may  follow  in  an  intenser 
degree.  There  may  be  a  kingdom,  but  a  kingdom  of 
anarchy.  There  may  be  similarity  in  the  fundamental 
relation  to  God,  along  with  fierce  antagonism  and  repulsion 
otherwise.  One  awe-struck  glance  is  all  permitted  us,  and 
it  shows  us  how  this  principle  of  association  according  to 
character  in  a  future  world,  may  be  as  a  fountain  doing 
what  James  said  that  no  fountain  could  do,  sending  forth 
both  sweet  waters  and  bitter. 

The  word  rendered  "  gather"  is  often  employed  for  the 
action  of  the  reaper  or  of  him  who  collects  fruits.  May  we 
not  blend  some  such  aUusion  with  its  use  here  ?  It  is  God 
who  says,  "  I  will  gather  thee,"  and  there  is  tenderness  and 
care  in  the  word.  That  last  parting  from  the  familiar  things 
of  earth  is  no  violent  dragging  away,  but  the  act  of  the 
great  Husbandman,  who  plucks  the  ripe  fruit  because  it  is 
precious  to  Him.  Sentiment  talks  of  Death  as  the  reaper, 
but  the  antique  simplicity  of  our  text  goes  far  deeper  than 
that  representation.  Not  Death,  but  God,  is  the  Reaper. 
Death  is  only  His  sickle.  It  is  He  who  gathers  in  His 
sheaves  and  stores  them  in  His  great  storehouse. 

III.  Finally,  we  may  see  here  a  discovery  of  the  true 
sphere  of  peace. 

Was  Huldah  one  of  the  juggling  prophetesses  who 
palter  with  a  double  sense,  keeping  a  promise  in  some 
fashion  and  yet  breaking  it?  So  it  might  seem  to  one 
looking  at  the  poor  young  king  in  his  chariot,  faint  with  loss 


GATHERED   IN    PEACE.  63 

of  blood  and  fleeing  from  the  fatal  field.  Was  this  being 
"  gathered  to  his  fathers  in  peace  "  ?  If  the  prophecy  was 
fulfilled  thus,  what  would  non-fulfilment  be?  The  fact 
looks  like  a  flat  contradiction  of  the  promise,  and  so 
prosaic  commentators  have  puzzled  themselves  as  to  how 
to  reconcile  the  two.  But  surely  there  is  no  mystery  in 
the  matter,  and  the  reconcilement  of  the  apparent  contra- 
diction is  easy,  as  is  so  often  the  case,  if  we  understand  the 
meaning  of  the  words  employed.  For  what  does  God's 
Spirit  mean  by  "  peace  "  ?  Surely  something  deeper  and 
more  inward  and  inwrought  with  the  substance  of  the  soul 
than  the  mere  absence  of  outward  strife  and  battle.  The 
peace  which  was  promised  to  Josiah  was  maintained  whether 
or  no  Pharaoh-Necho's  soldiers  stormed  across  Palestine, 
and  the  arrows  flew  thick  on  the  plain  of  Jezreel. 

Such  a  promise  so  fulfilled  is  meant  to  teach  us  the 
great  truth  for  life  and  for  death,  that  true  peace  does  not 
depend  on  the  absence  of  tumult,  but  on  the  presence  of 
God.  It  is  an  attribute  of  the  soul,  not  of  circumstances, 
and  is  often  more  fully  possessed  in  conflict  than  in  calm. 
They  who  look  for  it  in  any  conjunction  of  outward  good, 
search  for  it  in  the  wrong  place.  If  it  live  not  in  the  heart 
of  the  seeker,  he  seeks  it  in  vain,  and  it  lives  only  in  the 
heart  where  God  abides.  The  foot  of  Christ  is  the  only 
charm  to  still  the  heaving  billows,  and  round  Him,  as  He 
moves  in  the  greatness  of  His  strength  across  the  wild  ocean, 
is  an  atmosphere  of  calm.  If  we  pass  into  it,  the  wildest 
storm  will  pot  ruffle  a  fluttering  garment  or  lift  a  light  hair. 
We  may  carry  our  own  weather  with  us  through  all  storms, 
and  dwell  in  the  peace  of  God,  as  in  a  fortress,  though 
enemies  rage  around.  "  In  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribula- 
tion, but  in  Me  ye  shall  have  peace."     The  outward  life  in 


64  GATHERED   IN    PEACE. 

the  world  must  be  disturbed,  harassed,  beset  in  a  hundred 
ways  by  strifes  and  annoyances ;  but  the  true  life  which  is 
rooted  in  Jesus  Christ,  by  faith,  and  love,  and  desire,  and 
obedience,  may  all  the  while  be  the  seat  of  holy  calm,  as 
some  still  oratory  in  the  centre  of  a  beleaguered  castle.  To 
be  *•  in  Christ "  is  to  be  "  in  peace." 

In  like  manner,  the  fulfilment  of  this  prophecy  in  the 
death  of  Josiah  referred  not  to  the  outward  fashion  of  his 
dying,  but  to  the  composure  and  resignation  of  spirit,  not 
haply  without  some  foregleams  of  a  great  assemblage  of 
saints  to  welcome  his  coming,  with  which  he  passed  hence. 
As  for  the  outward  fact,  the  fierce  current  of  the  fight,  the 
shout  of  battle,  the  agony  and  flight,  were  very  unlike  what 
the  recipient  of  the  promise  may  have  expected ;  but  may 
not  his  death  have  been  as  peaceful  there  as  if  in  the 
seclusion  of  his  palace,  amid  careful  tending?  Not  the 
curtained  chamber,  the  loving  hands  to  smooth  the  pillow, 
or  any  of  the  other  alleviations  of  the  last  conflict,  make  it 
death  "  in  peace."  That  is  secured  only  by  the  same  thing 
as  secures  the  like  blessing  for  hfe— even  the  presence  of 
God  in  Christ,  realized  by  faith.  Many  of  us  may  have 
seen  the  horrible  frescoes  in  a  church  in  Rome,  where  all 
varieties  of  cruel  martyrdoms  are  grossly  pictured.  "  These 
all  died  in  faith,"  and  if  they  did,  they  died  in  peace,  though 
nameless  tortures  wrung  their  poor  frames.  Virgins  whose 
blood  reddened  the  sands  of  the  amphitheatre,  confessors 
wrapped  in  pitch  and  set  flaming  in  Caesar's  garden,  martyrs 
stretched  on  the  rack  or  burned  at  the  stake,  died,  according 
to  the  estimate  of  sense,  in  agony  and  tumult  which  it  would 
be  foolish  to  call  peace ;  but  according  to  the  estimate  of 
God,  which  is  the  ultimate  truth  and  reality  of  things,  their 
deaths  were  but  as  the  peaceful  harvesting  of  the  shock  of 


GATHERED   IN   PEACE.  6$ 

corn  fully  ripe.  The  first  Christian  martyr,  crushed  by  the 
heavy  stones  flung  by  fanatic  hands,  and  kneeling  outside 
the  city  wall  in  a  pool  of  his  own  blood,  died  so  peacefully 
that  the  only  word  to  describe  his  gentle  departure  is,  "  he 
fell  asleep,"  like  a  tired  child  on  its  mother's  lap. 

So  this  King  of  Israel,  smitten  between  the  joints  of  his 
armour  by  the  keen  Egyptian  arrow,  was  by  battle  brought 
to  his  grave  in  peace.  So  we,  whatever  be  the  circum- 
stances attending  our  passage  from  this  death  which  we  call 
life  into  the  life  which  men  call  death,  may  meet  them  and 
pass  through  them  with  quiet  hearts,  and  have  peace  as  well 
as  hope  in  our  death. 

Let  us  understand  the  deep  meaning  of  the  great 
promise  of  peace,  which  this  story  obliges  us  to  recognize, 
and  we  shall  see  in  the  apparent  contradiction  its  real  fulfil- 
ment, and  gain  a  lesson  very  profitable  for  life  and  for 
death.  If,  living,  we  live  unto  the  Lord,  and  dying,  die 
unto  Him,  and  so,  living  and  dying,  are  the  Lord's,  then, 
living  or  dying,  we  shall  keep  and  be  kept  in  His  last  gift 
of  perfect  peace,  which  shall  not  be  broken  by  any  of  the 
tumults  of  life  or  the  terrors  and  tempests  of  death. 


SOME    REASONS    WHY   THE 
WORD   BECAME   FLESH. 


SOME   REASONS  WHY  THE 
WORD  BECAME  FLESH. 

"  He  is  not  ashamed  to  call  them  brethren,  saying,  I  will  declare 
Thy  name  unto  My  brethren,  in  the  midst  of  the  Church  will  I  sing 
praise  to  Thee.  And  again,  I  will  put  My  trust  in  Him.  And  again. 
Behold  I  and  the  children  which  God  hath  given  Me." — Heb.  ii.  I1-13. 

"  Ashamed  to  call  them  brethren  " — why  should  He  be  ? 
It  is  no  condescension  to  acknowledge  the  fact  of  brother- 
hood with  humanity,  any  more  than  it  is  humiliation  to  be 
born.  But  there  was  a  Man  who  emptied  and  humbled 
Himself  by  being  "  found  in  fashion  as  a  man,"  and  for 
whom  it  was  infinite  condescension  to  call  us  His  brethren. 
We  can  say  of  a  prince  that  he  is  not  ashamed  to  call  his 
subjects  friends,  and  to  sit  down  to  eat  with  them,  but  it 
would  be  absurd  to  say  so  of  one  of  the  subjects  in  reference 
to  his  fellows.  The  full,  lofty  truth  of  the  first  chapter  of 
this  Epistle  underlies  that  word  "  ashamed,"  which  is  mean- 
ingless unless  Jesus  was  the  "  effulgence  of  the  Father's 
glory,  and  the  very  image  of  His  substance."  Only  on  that 
understanding  are  His  birth  and  enrolment  of  Himself 
among  us  men  the  transcendent  instances  of  His  loving 
self-abasement. 

The  writer  quotes  three  Old  Testament  passages  which 


70  SOME  REASONS  WHY  THE  WORD  BECAME  FLESH. 

he  regards  as  prophetic  of  our  Lord's  identifying  of  Him- 
self with  humanity. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  present  purpose  to  inquire  into  the 
principles  on  which  the  writer  asserts  the  Messianic  refer- 
ence of  the  passages  quoted.  I  desire  rather  to  point  out 
that  these  three  cited  sayings  deal  with  three  different 
aspects  of  our  Lord's  manhood,  and  of  the  purpose  of  His 
incarnation,  and  that,  therefore,  they  unitedly  give,  if  not  a 
complete,  yet  a  comprehensive  answer  to  the  question.  Why 
did  God  become  Man?  The  first  of  them  shows  us  our 
Lord  assuming  manhood  in  order  to  declare  God  to  men  ; 
the  second  gives  the  purpose  of  His  incarnation  as  being 
the  providing  of  a  Pattern  of  the  devout  life  for  men  ;  and 
the  third  presents  it  as  being  the  bringing  of  men  into  the 
relationship  of  sons. 

I.  Jesus  is  Man  that  He  may  declare  God  to  men. 

The  first  quotation  in  our  text  is  taken  from  that  psalm 
whence  our  Lord  drew  the  awful  words  which  pierced  the 
darkness  and  broke  the  silence  as  He  hung  on  the  cross, 
"  My  God,  My  God,  why  hast  Thou  forsaken  Me?  "  The 
psalm  springing  directly  from  the  heart  of  one  sorely 
afflicted  (whether  David  or  another,  and  whether  the  sufferer 
be  the  ideal  of  the  nation  or  no,  matter  nothing  for  the 
purpose  of  the  writer  of  the  Epistle),  and  referring  in  the 
consciousness  of  the  psalmist  to  his  own  feelings  in  the  midst 
of  his  sorrows,  has  yet  been  so  moulded  into  language  a 
world  too  wide  for  the  psalmist's  case,  and  corresponding 
in  a  number  of  minute  details — such  as  the  parting  of  the 
vesture  by  lot,  the  piercing  of  the  hands  and  feet,  and  the 
mockery  of  the  passers-by — with  the  facts  of  the  crucifixion, 
that  we  cannot  fail  to  perceive  the  figure  of  the  Man  of 
sorrows,  the  Prince  of  all  the  afflicted,  shimmering  through 


SOME  REASONS  WHY  THE  WORD  BECAME  FLESH.   7 1 

the  words  of  the  single  sufferer  who  pours  out  his  plaint  in 
the  psalm,  whether  he  himself  was  conscious  or  no  that 
his  words  portrayed  anything  more  than  his  own  misery. 
Every  true  mourner's  cries  fit  the  lips  of  every  other,  and 
every  lesser  sorrow  may  be  regarded  as  a  miniature  of  the 
greatest,  which  is  Christ's.  But  in  these  laments  of  the 
psalmist  we  shall  miss  their  deepest  pathos  unless  we  recog- 
nize something  more  than  this  mere  general  correspond- 
ence of  grief  with  grief,  heart  answering  to  heart,  deep 
answering  to  deep  across  the  ages,  because  all  hearts  are 
alike,  and  hear  in  them  the  tones  of  prophecy  speaking 
through  the  possibly  unconscious  psalmist.  The  words 
quoted  in  our  text  are  those  in  which  he  grasps  in  faith  the 
certainty  of  deliverance,  and  vows  that,  delivered,  he  will 
magnify  his  delivering  God  among  his  brethren.  Sorrow 
had  driven  him  to  supplication.  Supplication  and  sorrow 
had  brought  deliverance.  The  experience  of  all  three  had 
fitted  him  to  speak  with  fuller  assurance  and  insight  of  the 
Name  of  God,  and  thankfulness  for  all  had  put  a  new  song 
into  the  lips  that  had  groaned  and  prayed.  Therefore  his 
thankfulness  must  needs  pass  into  proclamation  to  all  around 
of  what  God  would  do,  and  in  the  estimate  of  faith  had 
already  done,  for  his  soul,  even  while  sorrow  pressed  on  him. 

And  is  not  this  true  of  Jesus  and  of  His  earthly  life  ? 
Was  He  not  made  perfect  by  suffering,  not  indeed  in  regard 
of  His  own  moral  nature,  but  in  reference  to  His  fitness  to 
be  the  Author  of  eternal  salvation  to  us?  His  fullest 
declaration  of  the  Father's  name  was  only  possible  after  and 
by  reason  of  His  sufferings  and  ascended  glory,  as  He  Him- 
self has  taught  us  when  He  prayed,  and  said,  "  I  have 
declared  Thy  name,  and  will  declare  it." 

What,  then,  is  this  office  of  declaring  the  name  of  the 


72   SOME  REASONS  WHY  THE  WORD  BECAME  FLESH. 

Father?     That  name  is  not  the  mere  syllables  by  which 
men  address  God,  but  is  the  manifested  character,  as  always 
in  Scripture.     Therefore  the  declaration  of  it  must  be  by 
acts  more  than  by  words.     And  so  the  highest  revelation  of 
God  must  be  by  a  human  life,     A  personal  God  can  only 
be  revealed  by  a  person.    He  can  only  be  shown  to  men 
by  a  life.     Words,  however  beautiful,  tender,  true,  and  self- 
evidencing,  will  not  suffice.     They  represent  men's  think- 
ings, but  they  can  never  certify  God's   fact.     They  may 
suggest  hopes,  fears,  perad ventures ;  but  unless  we  have  a 
living  person,  whose  deeds  on  the  plain  level  of  history  are 
the  manifestation  of  God,  our  thoughts  of  Him  will  neither 
be  solid  with  certainty  nor  sweet  with  healing  and  comfort. 
Our  highest  conceptions  of  God  must  be  moulded  after  the 
analogy  of  the  only  spiritual  existence  of  which  we  have 
experience,  namely,  the  human,  and  the  anthropomorphism, 
against  which  we  are  often  solemnly  warned,  is  a  necessity 
of  thought,  and  in  its  purest  forms  is  the  most  worthy  idea 
of  the  infinite  God.     It  may  be  gross  or  refined,  but  it  is 
inevitable.     Man  was  made  in  the  image  of  God^  and  that 
fact  guarantees  the  truth  of  the  conceptions  of  God  which 
think  of  His  infinite  perfection  as  the  reality  of  which  our 
limited  and  stained  manhood  is  yet  the  image,  distorted 
and  diminished  though  it  be.     The  analogy  is  such,  that 
the  brightness  of  the  Father's  glory  can  be  mirrored  and 
manifested  in  a  human  life.     The  life  of  Jesus  is  the  making 
visible  for  men  of  the  glory  of  the  invisible  God. 

The  human  life  that  reveals  God  must  be  more  than 
human.  It  is  not  enough  for  us  to  think  of  Jesus  as 
revealing  God  in  the  manner  in  which  saints  have  done. 
Only  when  we  believe  in  His  Divinity  does  His  humanity 
assume  for  us  revealing  power. 


SOME  REASONS  WHY  THE  WORD  BECAME  FLESH.   73 

What  is  the  substance  of  His  declaration  of  God  ?  The 
"  attributes,"  as  they  are  called,  of  supreme  Being,  such  as 
omniscience,  omnipotence,  and  other  majestic  appendages 
of  Divinity,  which  are  the  opposites  of  the  characteristics  of 
finite  humanity,  are  but  superficial,  not  of  the  essence  of  the 
Name.  They  are  but  the  fringe  of  the  light ;  the  central 
brightness  is  a  milder  light  than  blazes  in  these.  High 
above  these  forms  of  power,  tower  the  moral  attributes  of 
purity  and  righteousness.  But  when  w^e  have  passed 
through  the  outer  court  of  the  former  and  the  holy  place 
of  the  latter,  there  is  yet  a  veil  to  be  lifted,  and  within  it 
there  is  a  mercy-seat,  and  above  it  the  still  presence  of  the 
Glory,  filling  the  shrine  with  uncoruscating  rays  of  lambent 
light.  God  is  Power.  That  has  been  the  belief  and  the 
dread  of  the  world  from  of  old.  God  is  Righteousness. 
That  has  been  the  faith  of  purer  souls,  and  the  half-stifled 
witness  of  conscience.  God  is  Love.  That  is  the  new 
message  which  Christ  has  brought  by  something  better  than 
saying  so,  even  by  living  that  gentle  life  of  pity,  and  dying 
that  death  of  sacrifice,  and  telling  us,  for  the  interpretation 
of  both,  "He  that  hath  seen  Me  hath  seen  the  Father." 
God  has  wisdom,  power,  eternal  Being,  and  so  on;  but  God 
is  Love.  These  other  mighty  things  are  but  the  "  attri- 
butes "  of  the  love  which  is  Himself. 

All  other  means  of  knowing  God  are  imperfect.  Nature 
gives  but  ambiguous  responses,  and  while  "  the  earth  is  full 
of  the  goodness  of  the  Lord,"  it  is  no  less  true  that  much 
in  it  seems  to  speak  of  either  malignant  or  thwarted  bene- 
ficient  power,  and  might  well  be  the  support  of  dualism  or 
of  atheism.  Nature  needs  to  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of 
Christ's  revelation  of  God  before  it  yields  clear  evidence 
of  the  love  of  God.     History  and  our  own  intuitions  do 


74  SOME  REASONS  WHY  THE  WORD  BECAME  FLESH. 

little  to  supply  the  deficiency.  These,  and  all  other  sources 
apart  from  Christ,  are  like  the  fragmentary  inscriptions  in 
some  ruined  temple,  from  which  may  be  pieced  together,  by 
much  pains  and  at  much  risk  of  error,  some  more  or  less 
incomplete  and  illegible  records  of  the  gods  once  enshrined 
there.  But  the  whole  name  is  in  Jesus  Christ  given  for 
reading  by  the  least  learned,  in  whom  all  the  syllables 
which  were  uttered  at  sundry  times  and  divers  manners, 
and  of  which  the  broken  echoes  have  been  reverberating 
confusedly  in  men's  ears,  are  gathered  into  one  majestic 
full-toned  Name.  All  other  sources  of  knowledge  of  God 
fail  in  certainty.  They  yield  only  assertions  which  may  or 
may  not  be  true.  At  the  best,  we  are  relegated  to  perad- 
ventures  and  guesses  and  theories  if  we  turn  away  from 
Jesus  Christ.  Men  said  that  there  was  land  away  across 
the  Atlantic  for  centuries  before  Columbus  went  and  brought 
back  its  products.  He  discovers  who  proves.  Christ  has 
not  merely  spoken  to  us  beautiful  and  sacred  things  about 
God,  as  saint,  philosopher,  or  poet  might  do,  but  He  has 
shown  us  God ;  and  henceforward,  to  those  who  receive 
Him,  the  Unknown  Root  of  all  being  is  not  a  hypothesis, 
a  great  Perhaps,  a  dread  or  a  hope,  as  the  case  may  be, 
but  the  most  certain  of  all  facts,  of  Whom  and  of  whose  love 
we  may  be  surer  than  we  can  be  of  aught  besides  but  our 
own  being. 

If  Jesus  Christ  has  not  declared  God's  name  to  His 
brethren,  we  have  no  knowledge  of  that  name.  It  is 
becoming  more  and  more  plain  with  every  day  that  the 
tendencies  of  thought  now  are  bringing  us  full  front  with 
this  alternative — either  Jesus  Christ  or  none.  Either  He 
has  shown  us  God,  and  in  His  light  we  see  light,  or  we  are 
left  to  grope  in  the  dark.     Either  God  is  manifested  in 


SOME  REASONS  WHY  THE  WORD  BECAME  FLESH.   75 

Him,  or  there  is  no  manifestation  at  all.  Unless  *'  the  only- 
begotten  Son,  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  hath 
declared  Him,"  no  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time. 
Deism  or  Theism  will  not  sustain  itself  against  the  corro- 
sion of  the  acid  of  the  modern  spirit.  Men  may  reject 
Christ's  revelation  of  God,  and  still  say,  "  We  think,  "  We 
hope,"  or  "  We  fear " ;  but  they  cannot  say,  "  We  know," 
unless  they  accept  His  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you." 
Either  He  has  shown  us  God,  or  God  is  a  mere  sound 
which  tells  little  and  assures  of  less.  The  educated  mind 
of  England  is  confronted  with  this  choice — either  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh;  or  a  God  who  is  at  the  best  "a 
stream  of  tendency  not  ourselves,  that  makes  for  righteous- 
ness ; "  or  a  great  unknown  somewhat,  of  whom,  or  rather 
of  which,  we  know  only  that  it  cannot  be  known.  From 
all  these  cheerless  and  nebulous  thoughts  we  turn  to 
Jesus,  and  as  we  hear  Him  saying,  "  I  will  declare  Thy 
name  unto  My  brethren,"  we  see  the  sun  again  instead 
of  the  doleful  grey  that  veiled  our  sky,  and  regain  a  God 
who  loves  and  pities ;  a  God  of  whom  we  can  be  certain ; 
a  God  who  has  an  ear,  a  heart,  and  a  hand ;  a  God  whom 
in  Christ,  and  in  Christ  alone,  we  can  know,  and  whom  to 
know  is  life  eternal. 

II.  Jesus  is  Man  that  He  may  show  to  men  the  life  of 
devout  trust. 

"  And  again,  I  will  put  My  trust  in  Him."  This  quota- 
tion is  from  Isa.  viii.  The  prophet,  like  the  sufferer  in  the 
former  passage,  speaks  his  own  devout  dependence  on 
God,  apparently  with  no  consciousness  of  any  prophetic 
reference  in  his  words.  Our  writer  sees  in  Isaiah  a  fore- 
shadowing of  Jesus.  The  whole  prophetic  order  was  a 
prophecy  of  f/ie  Prophet.     This  prophet,  exalted  as  he 


7^  SOME  REASONS  WHY  THE  WORD  BECAME  FLESH. 

was  to  declare  the  will  of  God,  at  a  crisis  of  the  nation's 
history,  standing  before  his  generation  in  the  fulness  of 
inspiration,  feels  himself  not  absolved  from  the  necessity 
of  devout  dependence  on  God.  That  sense  of  dependence 
and  exercise  of  faith  are  part  of  the  prophetic  ideal.  He 
who  declares  God's  name  to  his  brethren  must  share  with 
his  brethren  the  emotions  of  personal  religion,  which  may 
all  be  summed  up  in  that  one  of  trust  or  faith. 

This,  too,  is  true  of  Jesus.  He  is  one  of  us,  and  His 
brotherhood  is  shown  in  that  He  too  lived  the  life  which 
He  lived  in  the  flesh  by  faith  in  God.  He  is  not  only 
the  Object,  but  also  the  Pattern,  of  faith.  Many  orthodox 
believers  in  the  Divinity  of  our  Lord  are  too  much  afraid 
of  giving  due  weight  to  that  aspect  of  His  manhood. 
There  is  much  confusion  in  many  minds,  in  which  there 
is  no  proper  belief  either  in  Christ's  true  manhood  or  in 
His  proper  Divinity,  but  only  in  a  strange  amalgam  of 
both,  in  which  each  element  neutralizes  to  some  extent 
the  characteristics  of  the  other.  Hence  men  who  do  see 
clearly  the  real  humanity  of  Jesus  and  nothing  more,  will 
shatter  such  perplexed  belief. 

Perfect  manhood  is  dependent  manhood.  A  reasonable 
creature  who  does  not  live  by  faith  is  a  monster  arrogating 
the  prerogative  of  God,  and  therein  assuming  the  likeness 
of  the  devil.  Christ's  perfect  manhood  did  not  release  Him 
from,  but  bound  Him  to,  the  exercise  of  faith.  Nor  did 
His  true  Deity  make  faith  impossible  to  His  manhood. 
Christ's  perfect  manhood  perfected  His  faith,  and  in  some 
aspects  modified  it.  His  trust  had  no  relation  to  the 
consciousness  of  sin,  and  no  element  either  of  repentance 
or  of  longing  for  pardon.  But  it  had  relation  to  the 
consciousness   of  need,  and  was  in   Him,  as  in  us,   the 


SOME  REASONS  WHY  THE  WORD  BECAME  FLESH.   T'J 

condition  of  continual  derivation  of  life  and  power  from 
the  Father.  Himself  has  said,  "  I  live  through  the  Father," 
and  the  indwelling  Divinity  of  the  Son  did  not  make 
superfluous  the  influx  of  the  Father's  life  into  His  manhood 
by  the  channel  of  faith.  His  faith  was  unlike  ours,  in  that 
it  was  steady.  Our  hands  tremble  with  the  very  pulses  of 
our  blood,  as  we  hold  the  telescope  which  shows  us  the 
things  not  seen.  His  hand  knew  no  tremor  or  perturbation 
from  throbbing  flesh,  and  no  mist  dimmed  His  vision.  Our 
faith  is  often  interrupted,  and  is  like  an  intermittent  spring. 
His  was  a  perennial  flow. 

Christ's  perfect  faith  brought  forth  perfect  fruits  in  His 
life,  issuing,  as  it  did,  in  obedience  which  was  perfect  in  purity 
of  motive,  in  gladness  of  submission,  and  in  completeness  of 
the  resulting  deeds  as  well  as  in  its  continuity,  through 
His  life.  "  I  do  always  the  things  that  please  Him,"  was 
His  own  summing  up  of  His  activity.  Was  that  arrogant 
and  ignorant  self-satisfaction,  or  the  true  utterance  of  a 
manhood  which,  in  its  absolute  non-participation  in  the 
universal  consciousness  of  defect  and  transgression,  stands 
unique,  and  demands  the  supposition  of  something  more 
than  manhood  in  Him  ?  That  perfect  faith  further  issued 
in  unbroken  communion.  Like  two  metal  plates  of  which 
the  surfaces  are  so  true  that  when  brought  together  they 
adhere,  the  Father  and  the  Son  were  inseparably  united,  in 
the  trustful  and  obedient  consciousness  of  Jesus. 

Thus  our  Lord  not  only  comes  among  us  to  show  us 
God,  but  also  to  show  us  the  true  glory  and  strength  of 
man,  and  to  let  us  see  how  Divine  a  thing  our  nature  may 
be  made  when  it  is  knit  to  the  Divine  by  faith.  He 
teaches  us  the  possibilities  of  faith,  both  in  itself  and  in  its 
ennobling  effect  on  life.     Out  of  His  example  we  may  take 


yS   SOME  REASONS  WHY  THE  WORD  BECAME  FLESH. 

both  shame  and  encouragement — shame  when  we  measure 
our  poor,  purbUnd,  feeble,  and  interrupted  faith  against  His, 
and  encouragement  when  we  raise  our  hopes  to  the  height 
of  the  revelation  in  it  of  what  ours  may  become.  The 
staff  that  He  leaned  on  He  has  bequeathed  to  us,  who  still 
travel  the  rough  road  where  His  footprints  are  yet  visible. 
The  shield  which  He  bore,  unpierced  and  undinted  by  all 
the  fiery  darts  that  struck  it,  He  has  left  for  us  to  brace  on 
our  arms.  The  Captain  and  Perfecter  of  faith  was  once  in 
the  arena  where  we  wrestle  and  fight.  He  conquered 
because  He  ever  said,  "  I  will  put  My  trust  in  Him ; "  and  we 
too  shall  be  victors,  if  we  look  away  from  all  besides,  and 
up  to  Him  where  He  now  sits  enthroned,  the  object  and 
the  pattern  of  our  trust.  "  This  is  the  victory  that  over- 
cometh  the  world,  even  our  faith." 

HI.  Jesus  is  Man  that  He  may  bring  men  into  the  family 
of  sons  of  God. 

"  Behold  I  and  the  children  which  God  hath  given  Me." 
These  words  are  taken  from  the  immediate  context  of  the 
last  quotation.  In  their  original  application,  the  prophet 
speaks  of  himself  and  of  his  family,  and  of  the  little  group 
of  disciples  who  had  been  drawn  to  him,  as  being  associated 
with  him  as  God's  witnesses — the  salt  of  the  nation,  which 
but  for  them  would  perish  in  its  rottenness.  The  writer  of 
the  Epistle  sees  in  that  Israel  within  Israel  a  shadow  of  the 
New  Testament  Church,  and  in  the  prophet's  humility, 
which  united  these  little  ones,  who  had  received  natural 
life  or  spiritual  impulse  from  him,  with  himself  in  his 
prophetic  office,  some  hint  of  the  greater  condescension  of 
Christ,  who  in  like  manner  bestows  life  on  those  who  trust 
Him,  and  lifts  them  to  a  wondrous  participation  in  His  Son- 
ship  to  God  and  in  His  work  for  men.     We  can  scarcely 


SOME  REASONS  WHY  THE  WORD  BECAME  FLESH.   79 

say  that  this  quotation  stands  on  the  same  level  as  the  first 
of  the  passages  quoted.  It  gives  an  illustration  rather  than 
an  actual  type  or  prophecy,  and  is  analogy  rather  than 
purposed  foreshadowing.  The  change  from  "  brethren,"  as 
in  the  first  quotation,  to  "  children "  is  to  be  noticed. 
Isaiah  was  parent,  and  "  the  children  "  were  partly  his  family 
and  partly  his  followers.  Christians  receive  spiritual  life 
from  Christ,  but  God  is  the  Father  and  Christ  is  the  elder 
Brother.  "Children"  does  not  refer  to  relationship  in  the 
same  sphere  as  "  brethren "  does.  The  latter  means 
kindred  by  a  common  manhood;  the  former,  kindred  by 
possession  of  the  same  spiritual  life.  While  Christ  is  Source 
of  spiritual  life  for  us.  He  Himself  lives  through  the  Father ; 
and  since  the  paradox  that  the  Father  hath  given  Him  to 
have  life  in  Himself  is  true,  the  more  common  representa- 
tion of  brotherhood  with  Him  and  this  of  sonship  are 
equally  in  accordance  with  the  facts.  We  have,  then, 
presented  in  this  final  clause,  the  effect  of  the  Incarnation  as 
being  power  to  us  to  become  sons  of  God.  The  three  clauses 
of  our  text  give  a  regular  progress  of  idea.  Christ  becomes 
Man  to  show  us  God.  In  His  humanity  He  lives,  like  us, 
by  faith.  The  result  of  his  identifying  Himself  with  us  as 
our  Brother  is  that  we  are  identified  with  Him  as  children 
of  God.  The  former  clauses  dealt  with  Christ's  becoming  like 
us,  this  with  our  becoming  like  Him. 

Our  Lord,  then,  becomes  Man  that  through  Him  men 
may  receive  a  new  life  which  is  His  own.  That  impartation 
of  a  new  Divine  life  is  the  deepest  truth  and  the  richest 
gift  of  the  gospel.  Do  not  be  satisfied  with  any  less 
conception  of  what  God  gives  us  in  the  unspeakable  gift 
of  His  Son  than  this,  that  He  therein  gives  to  all  who 
accept  Jesus  in  faith  a  spark  of  His  own  life,  which  will 


80  SOME  REASONS  WHY  THE  WORD  BECAME  FLESH. 

transform  our  deadness  into  quick  and  joyous  sensibility 
and  activity  worthy  of  its  source.  But  for  that  gift  of  life 
more  than  incarnation  is  needed.  Jesus  Christ  can  only 
impart  His  life  on  condition  of  His  death.  The  alabaster 
box  must  be  broken,  though  so  precious,  and  though  the 
light  of  the  pure  spirit  within  shone  lustrous  and  softened 
through  it,  in  order  that  the  house  may  be  filled  with  the 
odour  of  the  ointment.  By  His  death  He  puts  Death  to 
death,  and  takes  away  the  hindrances  to  the  bestowal  of  the 
true  life. 

Again,  He  becomes  Man  that  men  may,  by  the  com- 
munication of  His  life,  become  sons  of  God.  Since  He  is 
the  Son,  those  who  receive  life  from  Him  enter  thereby  into 
the  relationship  of  sons.  They  are  God's  children,  being 
Christ's  brethren.  They  are  brought  into  a  new  unity,  and 
being  members  of  one  family  are  one  by  a  sacreder  oneness 
than  the  possession  of  a  common  humanity.  The  brother- 
hood of  men  will  only  become  a  reality  to  which  men's 
institutions  and  sentiments  will  correspond,  when  it  rests  on 
the  fatherhood^  of  God,  realized  through  faith  in  that  elder 
Brother,  who  grudges  nothing  to  the  prodigal  sons,  but 
Himself  has  come  to  seek  them  and  bring  them  back. 

Further,  Jesus  is  Man  that  men  may  become  sharers  in 
His  prerogatives  and  offices.  As  Isaiah  gathered  his  children 
and  scholars  into  a  family,  and  gave  them  to  partake  in  his 
prophetic  office,  and  to  be  "  for  signs  and  wonders,"  so 
Christ  gathers  us  into  marvellous  oneness  with  Himself. 
He  becomes  like  us  in  our  lowliness  and  flesh  of  sin,  that 
we  may  become  like  Him  in  His  glory  and  perfection.  The 
identification  of  Jesus  and  His  disciples  is  represented  in 
Scripture  with  extraordinary  boldness,  as  being  like  the 
ineffable  union  of  the  Father  with  the  Son ;  as  being  faintly 


SOME  REASONS  WHY  THE  WORD   BECAME  FLESH.    8 1 

shadowed  by  the  vital  relation  of  head  and  body ;  as  being 

closer  and  more  inward  than  the  union  of  husband  and  wife, 

who  are  but  "one  flesh,"  while  "he  that  is  joined  to  the 

Lord  is  one  spirit."      Accordingly,  the   same   names   are 

applied  to  them  and  to  Him.    Is  He  the  Light  of  the  world  ? 

So  are  they.      Is  He  the  Anointed?     So  are  they.     The 

Christian  Church  is  the  prolongation  of  the  life  of  Christ  on 

earth,  and  while  the  great  sacrifice]which  He  has  made  once 

for  all  on  the  cross  cannot  be  repeated,  copied,  or  paralleled, 

and  needs   no  repetition,  there  are  aspects  even  of  His 

sufferings  in  which  His  servants  have  to  fill  up  their  measure 

for  the  sake  of  the  brethren.     The  union  is  as  of  the  graft 

into  the  tree,  with  the  difference  that  here  it  is  not  the  good 

graft  which  is  inserted  in  the  wild  stock,  but  the  wild  slip 

which  is  introduced  into  the  good  tree  and  partakes  both  of 

its  root  and  fatness. 

Further,  Christ  is  Man  that  He  may  present  His  family 

at  last  to  God.     If  we  love  and  trust  Him,  He  will  hold  us 

in  His  strong  and  tender  grasp,  and  never  part  from  us  till 

He  presents  us  at  last  faultless  and  joyful  before  the  presence 

of  His  and  our  Father — 

"  No  wanderer  lost, 
A  family  in  heaven." 

The  sum  of  the  whole  matter  is  this.  There  is  but  one 
way  of  knowing  God.  All  else  is  darkness  and  uncertainty, 
shifting  as  cloud-rack,  and  unsubstantial  as  it.  God  has 
spoken  to  us  in  the  Son.  If  we  see  Christ,  we  see  God. 
There  is  but  one  noble,  peaceful,  worthy  life  for  man — a  hfe 
of  faith  in  Him,  who  is  at  once  the  Object  and  the  Example 
of  our  faith,  and  believing  in  whom  we  believe  in  the  Father 
also.  There  is  but  one  fountain  of  life  opened  in  this  grave- 
yard of  a  world,  of  whose  waters  whosoever  drinks   shall 

G — 2 


82   SOiME   REASONS  WHY  THE  WORD  BECAME  FLESH. 

"  have  in  him  a  fountain  of  water  springing  up  into  ever- 
lasting life."  There  is  but  one  way  of  becoming  sons  of 
God.  Christ  our  Brother  is  the  Revealer  of  God,  the  Pattern 
of  devotion,  the  Source  and  Upholder  of  life.  Listen  to  Him 
declaring  the  name  of  the  Father.  Put  your  trust  in  Him, 
for  you  trust  in  God  when  you  have  faith  in  Christ. 
Open  your  heart  that  His  life  may  flow  into  your  death. 
Then  His  strong  hand  will  hold  you  up,  and  at  last  He  will 
acknowledge  you  for  His  in  the  presence  of  the  Father  and 
of  the  holy  angels,  and  will  point  to  you,  saved,  glorified, 
and  like  Himself,  with  the  triumphant  words,  "Behold  I 
and  the  children  whom  God  hath  given  Me." 


ARMED  RECREANTS. 


ARMED  RECREANTS. 

"  The  children  of  Ephraim,  being  armed,  and  carrying  bows,  turned 
back  in  the  day  of  battle." — Ps.  Ixxviii.  9, 

The  great  tribe  of  Ephraim  was  the  principal  constituent 
in  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  and  so  important  that  the  whole 
kingdom  is  frequently  in  Scripture  called  by  the  name  of 
the  tribe.  Whether  that  be  so  here  or  no  is  difficult  to 
determine,  because  the  historical  reference  of  our  text  is 
uncertain.  It  evidently  points  to  some  old,  forgotten 
battle,  of  which  we  know  nothing.  But  the  psalm,  as  a 
whole,  comes  from  the  southern  kingdom  of  Judah,  and 
culminates  in  the  triumphant  celebration  of  God's  rejection 
of  the  northern  portion  of  the  nation  in  favour  of  Judah, 
in  which  He  set  His  tabernacle.  The  dereliction  of  duty 
expressed  in  my  text  seems  to  be  suggested  as  one  cause 
of  the  withdrawal  of  the  Divine  favour.  What  was  that 
dereliction  of  duty  ?  It  is  difficult  to  settle  whether  "  turned 
back  in  the  day  of  battle  "  means  a  cowardly  flight  from  the 
field,  being  beaten,  or  a  slothful  and  selfish  refusal  to  go 
into  the  field  and  fight.  Either  idea  would  explain  the 
language.  But  the  emphasis  which  is  put  upon  the  thorough 
equipment  of  the  soldiers,  seems  rather  to  favour  the  idea 
that  what  is  meant  by  "  turning  back  in  the  day  of  battle  " 


86  ARMED   RECREANTS. 

is  that  these  men,  thus  equipped  with  weapons  for  the  fight, 
refused  the  fight  for  which  they  were  equipped.  And  so, 
I  think,  we  have  in  the  words  lessons  that  we  may  well  lay 
to  heart. 

I.  Note,  then,  first,  the  fact. 

Now,  the  assertion  here,  when  applied  to  us,  is  just 
this — that  every  Christian,  by  virtue  of  his  Christianity,  is 
sufiiciently  armed  for  the  great  conflict.  We  all  have  the 
gift  of  that  Divine  Spirit,  who  *'  will  teach  our  hands  to 
war  and  our  fingers  to  fight."  Jesus  Christ  imparts  Himself 
to  every  soul  that  trusts  Him  ;  and  "  this  is  the  victory  that 
overcometh  the  world,  even  our  faith."  Then,  in  addition 
to  the  universal  sufficient  equipment  which  belongs  to  every 
Christian  soul,  there  are  also  included  the  variety  of  gifts. 
In  a  great  army  such  as  Eastern  despots  used  to  gather, 
before  military  science  had  reached  its  present  diaboHcal 
perfection,  there  were  men  armed  in  all  sorts  of  fashions ; 
the  foremost  ranks  with  spears  and  swords  and  bows, 
perhaps,  the  hindmost  with  clubs  and  sticks ;  but  all  with 
something  in  their  hands  with  which  they  could  strike  a 
brave  stroke  for  their  king.  And  so  all  we  Christian  people, 
in  the  variety  of  our  gifts,  have  sufficient  weapons  for  the 
warfare,  and  sufficient  tools  for  the  tasks  allotted  to  us. 
There  are  "  diversities  of  administrations,  but  it  is  the 
same  Lord ; "  and  there  are  differences  of  gifts,  but  it 
is  He  that  ministers  to  each  and  to  all. 

Then  this  is  the  fact  that  we,  who,  by  virtue  of  our 
being  Christian  people,  are  sufficiently  armed  for  offensive 
and  defensive  warfare  and  for  victory,  do  yet  to  a  terrible 
extent  shirk  the  fight,  let  opportunities  slip  away  unused, 
like  so  much  water  through  slack  hands,  neglect  to  stir  up 
the   gift  that  is  in   us,  and  "being   armed,  and   carrying 


ARMED   RECREANTS.  8/ 

bows,"  look  at  the  serried  ranks  in  front  of  us,  and  slink 
away  out  of  the  field,  leaving  who  will  to  bear  the  brunt. 

There  are  two  phases  of  the  warfare  to  which  every 
Christian  soul  is  summoned  :  the  one  is  the  fight  with  our 
own  evil,  which  is  not  to  be  subdued  merely  by  peaceful 
culture,  but  needs  stern  antagonism ;  and  the  other  is  the 
effort  to  spread  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  is  to  be 
done  not  merely  by  the  missionary  work  of  proclamation, 
but  also  by  warring  against  the  evils  that  infest  and  hag-ride 
the  world.  These  two  branches  of  the  one  conflict  are  set 
before  all  Christian  men ;  and  all  of  us,  more  or  less,  have 
to  take  to  ourselves  the  indictments  of  this  text  of  ours, 
and  to  confess  that,  with  our  opportunities  and  equipments, 
our  gifts  and  capacities  and  possessions,  we  have  turned 
away  in  the  day  of  battle. 

Brother !  who  is  there  amongst  us  that  has  worked  and 
fought  up  to  the  edge  of  his  capacity  ?  There  is  no  more 
wasteful  instrument,  they  tell  us,  than  a  steam-engine ;  so 
little  motive  power  comes  out  for  so  much  heat  applied,  and 
such  a  quantity  is  lost.  So  it  is  with  us.  All  the  warmth 
that  radiates  from  Jesus  Christ  is  poured  into  the  icy 
deadness  of  the  reservoirs  of  our  hearts,  and  the  effect  is 
only  to  raise  the  temperature  such  a  very  little,  and  to  get 
two  or  three  feeble  strokes  of  the  piston.  We  hang  our 
weapons  on  the  wall,  as  they  do  in  baronial  mansions,  for 
ornament,  instead  of  taking  them  down  for  use.  None 
of  us  can  plead  "not  guilty"  to  the  charge  of  neglected 
opportunities  and  unused  powers,  and  talents  hid  in  a 
napkin,  and  there  are  some  of  us  to  whom  this  charge  of 
my  text  comes  with  a  very  special  weight  of  accusation 
and  condemnation.  What  a  dead  mass  of  idle  people 
there  are  in  every  Christian  congregation  and  Church  !     I 


88  ARMED  RECREANTS. 

do  not  mean  merely  those  who  do  not  take  any  part  in 
the  organized  activities  of  the  community  to  which  they 
belong — that  is  for  their  conscience;  but  I  mean  that, 
professing  themselves  Christian  men  and  women,  and  living 
in  some  feeble  fashion  as  such,  they  yet  do  nothing  with 
the  forces  entrusted  to  them,  and  have  hardly  any  growth 
in  godliness  for  themselves,  and  have  seldom  lifted  a  finger 
to  do  anything  for  Christ  among  men. 

Ah  !  there  are  more  non-effective  soldiers  in  the  roll- 
call  of  Christ's  army  than  in  that  of  any  volunteer  corps 
that  was  ever  heard  of;  and  at  the  musters  there  are  a 
dreadful  number  "absent  without  leave,"  whose  names 
might  just  as  well  be  struck  off  the  muster-roll  altogether. 

Another  suggestion  may  be  made  here.  The  men  that 
are  best  armed  are  very  often  the  first  to  run  away.  It  is 
by  no  means  the  fact  that  the  rich  man,  for  instance,  is  the 
large  giver.  It  is  by  no  means  the  fact  that  the  relatively 
largely  endowed  man,  with  the  greatest  educational  advan- 
tages or  intellectual  power,  is  the  vigorous  worker  in  the 
Church.  It  is  generally  the  other  way.  The  men  that  have 
the  bows — which  was  the  mightest  instrument  of  warfare 
with  Israel  in  those  rude  old  days — are  not  the  fighting- 
men. 

These  are  generally  the  poor  people  in  the  back  ranks, 
who  have  only  sticks  and  knives,  and  make  the  best  of 
their  poor  weapons,  because  they  are  more  loyal  to  the 
King  and  Captain.  Oh  !  you  rich  men,  if  there  are  any 
of  you  here ;  you  clever  people ;  you  well-educated  folk ; 
you  men  and  women  with  leisure;  recognize  that  the 
endowment  that  distinguishes  you  from  others  is  God's  way 
of  saying  to  you,  "  Go  into  My  vineyard!"  and  let  us  al 
try  that  the  charge  of  my  text  shall  be  less  applicable  to  us. 


ARMED  RECREANTS.  89 

II.  Note,  next,  the  black,  deep  guilt  of  this  negative 
crime. 

We  are  all  quite  ready  to  admit,  and  forward  to  plead, 
that  inability  absolves  from  duty.  Do  we  ever  remember, 
or  do  we  remember  as  quickly  when  tasks  present  them- 
selves, the  converse,  that  ability  prescribes  duty?  You 
cannot  take  the  benefit  of  the  excuse  on  the  one  hand 
unless  you  are  ready  to  accept  the  obligation  on  the  other. 
Power  settles  duty.  "Can"  and  "ought"  cover  precisely 
the  same  ground  to  an  inch,  both  in  regard  of  manner  and 
of  measure.  Ability  settles  the  duty,  and  obligation  is  only 
another  way  of  saying  capacity.  So,  then,  brethren,  we 
come  to  this,  that  the  negative  refusal,  so  to  speak,  to  go 
into  the  fight  is  positive  treason.  For  what  lies  in  it? 
What  does  a  man  who  simply  does  not  visit  the  imprisoned 
Christ,  or  bring  consolation  to  His  comfortless  servants, 
or  simply  hides  his  talent  in  a  napkin,  and  does  not  use 
it, — what  does  he  do  in  his  not  doing?  He  betrays  his 
Master,  is  disloyal  to  his  King,  is  hurtful  to  himself  and 
cruel  to  his  fellows.  And  what  I  wish  to  urge  upon  you 
is  this,  that  the  negative  fault  that  is  charged  in  my  text 
is  a  positive  crime,  of  as  deep  and  dark  a  dye  as  any 
Christian  man  can  commit ;  and  more  dangerous,  because 
more  subtle,  and  less  apparently  perilous  than  many  an  act 
which  looks  a  great  deal  worse.  Negligence  is  enough  to 
damn  a  man.  In  order  to  go  down  to  the  nethermost 
depths,  you  do  not  need  to  do  anything ;  you  have  simply 
7iot  to  do  something,  and  down  you  will  go  by  gravitation. 
Although  there  may  be  nothing  else  to  condemn  a  man  at 
Christ's  tribunal,  do  not  forget  that  the  worst  condemnation 
that  ever  He  spoke  was  directed  in  parable  to  a  man  who 
had  no  positive  faults  at  all,  or  at  least  none  that  are  named. 


90  ARMED   RECREANTS. 

and  none  that  come  into  condemnation.  He  could  appa- 
rently say  and  with  perfect  truth,  as  the  Pharisee  in  the 
parable  said,  "I  am  not  as  other  men  are,  extortioners, 
unjust,  adulterers,  or  even  as  this  publican."  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Church ;  he  filled  his  place ;  nobody  could 
say  a  word  against  him.  Jesus  Christ  had  nothing  to  say 
against  him.  All  that  was  wrong  with  him  was — what? 
That  he  took  his  talent^  wrapped  it  up  in  a  cloth,  and 
hid  it  away  somewhere.  I  wonder  if  there  are  any  pro- 
fessing Christians  here,  blameless  before  the  eyes  of  the 
world,  blameless  even  before  the  tribunal  of  their  own 
callous  consciences,  who  live  decent^  respectable,  orderly, 
law-abiding  lives,  up  to  the  standard  of  Christian  morality 
in  a  great  many  respects ;  only — only,  "  having  bows,  they 
turn  back  in  the  day  of  battle." 

in.  Now  let  me  say  a  word  about  the  reasons  for  this 
cruel,  cowardly,  and  criminal  dereliction  of  duty. 

One  of  them  is  a  want  of  honest  study  of  ourselves  in 
reference  to  our  duty.  Did  you  ever  spend  a  quiet  half- 
hour  in  thinking  over  what  is  really  in  your  power,  in  order 
to  ascertain  what  you  are  bound  to  do  ?  Or  do  you  take 
your  forms  of  Christian  service  for  others,  and  of  Christian 
culture  for  yourselves,  at  haphazard,  or  by  mere  slavish 
imitation  of  other  people?  I  believe  that  there  are  few 
parts  of  Christian  culture  more  neglected  by  the  average 
Christian  people  of  this  generation  than  the  old-fashioned 
habit  of  self-examination ;  not  in  order  to  find  out  reasons 
for  confidence — God  forbid ! — nor  in  order  to  find  out 
reasons  for  diffidence  either,  but  in  order  to  find  out  paths 
of  work,  and  to  try  and  ascertain,  by  an  examination  of 
their  own  capacities,  what  are  their  duties.  I  believe  that 
if  you  would  do  that  habitually,  prayerfully,  in  the  sight  of 


ARMED  RECREANTS.  9 1 

God,  your  whole  lives  would  be  revolutionized,  and  your 
"profiting  would  appear  unto  all  men." 

There  are  a  great  many  of  us  who  are  never  so  modest 
as  when  we  are  asked  to  work  for  Christ.  It  is  then  that 
we  find  out,  and  are  ready  to  say,  "  Oh,  I  cannot  do  this, 
that,  or  the  other  thing."  The  discovery  generally  coincides 
with  the  appeal  of  apparent  duty.  So  it  is  rather  suspicious, 
is  it  not? 

There  is  another  very  widely  operative  cause,  namely, 
absorbing  attention  to  and  interest  in  selfish  and  transi- 
tory needs.  Suppose  these  men  of  Ephraim  had  said, 
"  Bows  ?  Oh  yes  !  we've  got  bows.  We  use  them  principally 
to  shoot  wild  goats  for  our  food.  That  is  the  employment 
of  them  that  we  find  most  profitable." 

That  is  what  many  of  us  do  with  our  capacities.  The 
men  are  armed,  and  they  are  so  busy,  as  sportsmen  say, 
"  shooting  for  the  pot,"  that  they  have  no  time  for  the  fight. 
A  Christian  who  gives  as  much  of  his  life's  blood  and  his 
heart's  energy  as  most  of  us  do  to  the  mere  provision  of 
external  good  has  very  little  leisure  to  spare,  and  less 
freshness  of  spirit  to  consecrate  to  Jesus  Christ.  And 
although  I  know  that  the  honest  pursuit  of  daily  bread  is  a 
first  duty  for  heads  of  families,  and  is  part  of  the  "  seek- 
ing of  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness,"  yet  no 
man  who  has  to  preach  the  gospel  in  a  great  commercial 
centre  can  help  seeing  that  to  a  far  more  than  is  needful 
extent,  in  multitudes  of  cases,  the  cares  of  this  world  fill 
men's  souls,  and  leave  no  leisure  for  higher  things.  The 
bows  were  not  given  you  only  to  shoot  rabbits  with  for 
your  own  meals  and  your  children's.  They  were  given  you 
to  fight  the  good  fight  of  faith  with  them. 

The  foundation  of  all  is,  that  if  we  loved  Jesus  Christ 


92  ARMED   RECREANTS. 

better,  and  were  brought  more  closely  into  the  fellowship  of 
His  love,  and  more  under  the  dominion  of  the  quickening, 
protective,  and  hallowing  influences  that  flow  from  Him, 
we  should  not  be  able  to  help  casting  ourselves  into  the 
conflict  which  He  has  commanded,  and  in  which  He  leads. 
Oh !  brethren,  if  our  faith  were  deeper,  our  love  warmer, 
our  devotion  more  ardent,  our  consecration  more  complete, 
our  lives  would  be  more  befitting  the  lives  of  the  soldiers 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

If  these  things  be  the  causes  of  the  criminal  derelic- 
tion of  duty,  the  cures  lie  in  the  opposites  of  them.  Espe- 
cially we  should  seek  to  get  and  to  keep  nearer  to  Him  for 
whom,  if  we  fight  at  all,  we  shall  fight;  and  by  whom,  if  we 
conquer,  we  shall  be  victorious. 

You  remember  the  old  story  of  the  Scottish  knight,  with 
the  king's  heart  in  a  golden  casket,  who,  beset  by  crowds  of 
dusky,  turbaned  believers,  slung  the  precious  casket  into 
the  serried  ranks  of  the  enemy,  and  with  the  shout,  "  Lead 
on,  brave  heart ;  I  follow  thee  ! "  cast  himself  into  the  thickest 
of  the  fight,  and  lost  his  life  that  he  might  save  it.  And 
so,  if  we  have  Christ  before  us,  we  shall  count  no  path  too 
perilous  that  leads  us  to  Him,  but  rather,  hearing  Him  say, 
"  If  any  man  serve  Me,  let  him  follow  Me,"  we  shall  walk 
in  His  footsteps,  and  fight  the  good  fight,  sustained  by  His 
example.  And  then,  at  the  end,  perhaps  even  we,  all 
unworthy  as  we  are,  stained  and  imperfect  as  our  poor 
service  has  been,  may  have  the  rapture  of  hearing  from 
His  lips  the  generous  sentence  which  He  once  spoke  in 
reference  to  an  utterly  useless  gift,  "  She  hath  done  what 
she  could." 


"AN    INCREASING    PURPOSE." 


"AN  INCREASING  PURPOSE." 

"  These  all,  having  had  witness  borne  to  them  through  their  faith, 
received  not  the  promise,  God  having  provided  some  better  thing  con- 
cerning us,  that  they  without  us  should  not  be  made  perfect." — Heb. 
xi.  39,40  (R.V.). 

In  their  original  application  these  words  refer  to  the  heroes 
of  the  faith  whom  the  grand  roll-call  of  this  chapter  has 
been  enumerating.  The  whole  company  of  Old  Testament 
believers  is  included  in  "  these  all;  "the  whole  company 
of  New  Testament  believers  in  "  us."  The  promise,  the 
fulfilment  of  which  they  did  not  receive,  was  that  of  the 
Messiah  and  His  salvation.  They  stretched  out  empty 
hands  to  greet  it  from  afar,  as  sailors  the  dimly  descried 
land,  and  possessed  not  that  for  which  they  longed,  because 
God,  looking  onward  through  the  ages,  had  mercifully  willed 
that  later  generations  should  share  in  the  blessing.  The 
"better  thing"  foreseen,  as  given  to  us  New  Testament 
Christians,  is  the  work  of  Christ,  done  at  a  point  of  time, 
but  sending  its  influences  backwards  and  forwards  to  bless 
all  generations.  The  "perfecting"  which  it  was  not  fitting 
that  they  should  reach  without  us,  is  that  final  complete- 
ness in  which  all  Christ's  servants  shall  be  united,  and 
of  which,  since  Christ  has  come,  the  saints  of  the  older 


96  "AN   INCREASING   PURPOSE." 

period  have  already  received  the  earnest,  as  is  manifest 
from  their  being  subsequently  spoken  of  as  spirits  "  made 
perfect,"  and  of  which  we  too  receive  an  earnest  in  another 
fashion,  in  the  gift  of  the  sanctifying  Spirit. 

Such  being  the  original  bearing  of  these  words,  we  may 
venture  to  apply  the  principles  contained  in  them  in  a 
somewhat  different  direction,  as  setting  forth  truths  as  to 
the  relation  of  successive  generations  in  the  Church,  all 
of  whom  have  received  that  "  better  thing,"  which,  given 
once  for  all  in  full  completeness,  is  yet  apprehended 
gradually  by  both  individuals  and  the  community,  and 
blesses  each  generation  of  believing  souls  with  new  gifts 
of  knowledge  and  power,  till  all  are  united  in  the  ultimate 
perfection  of  the  heavens.  Our  connection  with  the  past, 
our  task  in  the  present,  our  anticipations  in  the  future,  are 
all  taught  in  these  great  words. 

I.  We  note,  first,  the  bond  uniting  us  with  past  genera- 
tions. 

"  These  all "  had  witness  borne  to  them  through  their 
faith.  That  faith  was  their  common  characteristic,  supply- 
ing a  principle  ofunity  which  counterwrought  the  differences 
of  era  and  circumstance,  and  made  one  company  of  persons 
so  unlike  as  Abel  and  Rahab,  Enoch  and  Jephthah.  If  we 
throw  ourselves  back  to  the  condition  of  things  at  the  date 
of  this  Epistle,  this  chapter  appears  even  more  remarkable 
than  we  usually  consider  it.  The  question  then  agitating 
men's  minds  was.  Is  not  this  new  faith  in  Christ  Jesus  the 
destruction  of  Judaism  ?  and  the  writer  of  this  Epistle 
answers  the  question  by  the  broad  assertion  that  Christi- 
anity is  the  real  Judaism,  and  that  the  true  line  of  succession 
runs  through  the  Church,  and  not  through  the  synagogue. 
Fancy  a  stiff  Pharisee's  face  at  hearing  a  Christian  teacher 


"AN    INCREASING  PURPOSE."  97 

claim  Abraham,  Jacob,  and,  most  audaciously  of  all, 
Moses  for  his  side  !  But  why  did  he  do  so  ?  Because  the 
foundation  of  their  lives  was  faith.  Their  faith  was  the 
same.  Their  creeds  were  different,  if  not  in  essence,  yet  in 
comprehensiveness.  Their  faith  was  the  same  exercise  of 
spirit  as  ours.  Nay,  the  identity  goes  further  still;  for 
though  faith  in  this  Epistle  be  generally  meant  chiefly  in  its 
Old  Testament  sense  of  trust  in  God,  and  therefore  in  a 
future  which  is  the  subject  of  Divine  promises,  rather  than 
in  its  New  Testament  specific  sense  of  trust  in  Jesus,  yet, 
since  Jesus  is  the  Revealer  of  God,  its  objects  are  substan- 
tially the  same  in  both  epochs  of  revelation.  The  secret  of 
the  religious  life  of  the  ancient  believers  is  laid  bare  in  one 
sentence  concerning  the  father  of  them  all :  "  Abraham 
believed  God,  and  He  counted  it  to  him  for  righteousness." 
The  object  of  their  faith  was  God,  as  He  spake  at  sundry 
times  and  in  divers  manners.  The  object  of  the  Christian 
faith  is  God  speaking  in  a  Son,  to  listen  to  whom  is  to 
hear  God,  to  see  whom  is  to  see  the  Father,  and  who  is, 
as  this  Epistle  elaborately  proves,  Priest  and  Temple  and 
Sacrifice.  The  writer  will  not  allow  any  difference,  except 
that  of  development,  between  the  call  of  prophet  and 
psalmist,  "  Trust  ye  in  the  Lord  for  ever,"  and  the  preaching 
of  apostles,  "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  There 
has  never  been  but  one  way  to  heaven,  and  faith  has 
always  been  one,  however  different  in  completeness  its 
creed. 

It  is  but  applying  the  same  principle  in  a  slightly 
different  direction  to  say  that  all  in  Christian  ages  who  have 
the  same  Spirit  of  faith  are  one.  All  who  lay  hold  of  the 
same  Christ  with  the  same  confidence  are  knit  together. 
But  it  must  be  the  same  Christ,  the  Divine-human  Christ, 

H — 2 


98  "AN   INCREASING  PURPOSE." 

the  world's  Redeemer ;  and  the  faith  must  be  so  far  the  same 
that  it  leans  the  whole  weight  of  man's  weakness  on  that 
incarnate  Strength,   and  hangs  all  his  hopes  on  that  one 
Lord.     If  these  things  be  the  same,  then  no  other  differences, 
however  great,  can  break  the  real  unity,  though,  alas !  they 
have  often  been  permitted  to  break  the  consciousness  of  it. 
No  matter  in  what  age  they  lived,  or  what  were  their  rela- 
tions to  one  another,  all  holders  of  that  faith,  or  rather  all 
who  are  held  by  it,  are  one.     Jewish  converts  with  chips 
of  the  shell  of  Judaism  still  sticking  to  them,   Egyptian 
hermits,   African   bishops,    Donatist   and    orthodox,  Latin 
monks,  Lutheran  professors,  English  Churchmen  and  Non- 
conformists, half-civilized  converts  in  missionary  stations— 
they  all  have  the  King's  broad  arrow  on  them.     Faith  is 
deepest,  and  they  who  are  one  in  it  are  fundamentally  one, 
however  superficially  separate.     So,  when   we  look  back, 
there  should  be  more  than  apathetic  or  curious  glances,,  and 
more  than  the  interest  of  the  historian  or  controversialist. 
There  should  be  the  generous  glow  of  kindred,  and  we 
should  feel  as  we  would  by  the  graves  of  our  ancestors.     We 
should  be  aware  of  the  tingle  of  the  electric  chain  which 
binds  in  one  all  who  hold  by  the  one  Lord ;   and  however 
some  narrow  theories  may  part  brethren  from  us,  we  should 
hold  fast  by  the  resolve  that  in  heart  at  any  rate  we  will 
not  be'parted  from  them,  but  in  our  sympathies  strive  to  be 
true  to  the  animating  conviction  that  faith  in  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Saviour  of  the  world,  makes  all  its  possessors  one. 
II.  We  note  the  better  things  foreseen  for  us. 
There  is  no  such  advance  within  the  limits  of  Chris- 
tianity as  separated  it  from   the  earlier  revelation.      The 
further  "  light "  which  each  age  has  a  right  to  expect  is  to 
"  break  forth  from  the  Word  "  already  given.     "  The  Christ 


"AN   INCREASING   PURPOSE.  99 

that  is  to  be"  is  the  Christ  that  was  and  is — "the  same 
yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  for  ever." 

He  is  "  for  ever,"  as  being  complete.     As  for  truth,  all 
treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  are  in  Him,  and  may 
be  drawn  from  the  deepening  understanding  of  the  principles 
embodied  in  His  life  and  death,  in  His  resurrection  and 
reign.     All  theology,  morality,  sociology,  lie  in  Him  as  gold 
in  ore,  or  diamonds  in  a  matrix.     As  for  powers,  all  that 
can  be  needed  or  done  for  the  regeneration  of  the  world  and 
of  single  souls  has  been  done  and  supplied  in  the  work  of 
Christ.     What  remains  is  but  the  application  of  the  power 
which  has  been  lodged  in  humanity.     But  while  objective 
revelation  is  complete,  and   God's   treasuries   contain   no 
"better  thing"  than  the  unspeakable  gift  once  bestowed 
and  ever  possessed,  there  is  meant  to  be  advancement  in 
understanding  of  the   truth   and   in   appropriation  of  the 
power.     Jesus  is  inexhaustible.     No  one  man  can  absorb 
Him  all ;  no  one  age  can.     A  thousand  mirrors  set  round 
that  central  light  will  each  receive  its  beam  at  its  own  angle, 
and  flash  it  back  in  its  own  fashion.     So  true  progress  will 
consist  in  a  fuller  understanding  and  firmer  grasp  of  Him 
as  Son  of  God  and  Redeemer  of  the  world,  and  in  a  more 
complete  reception  of  His  Spirit,  manifested  in  more  Christ- 
like characters  and  more  Christ-pleasing  service.     It  does 
not  mean  casting  away  the  old,  but  finding  new  force  in  the 
old  commandment  and  new  depth  of  meaning  in  the  old 
revelation.     In  this  alphabet,   alpha   is  omega,   and   both 
Alpha  and  Omega  are  Christ.     Each  generation,  then,  has 
to  receive  an  incomplete  work  from  its  predecessors,  and  to 
hand  on  an  incomplete  work,  made  a  little  less  incomplete 
by   its   faithful   diligence,    to    its  successors.      The    great 
cathedral  took  centuries  to  rear,  and  each  generation  had 


100  "AN   INCREASING  PURPOSE." 

but  to  raise  its  walls  a  yard  or  two,  and  a  man  might  be 
glad  if  it  were  granted  him  to  add  some  fair  carving  to  a 
single  shaft,  or  to  lay  but  a  single  stone. 

But  within  these  limits  there  is  room  for  large  advance, 
and  in  periods  of  swift  change   like   ours,   it  is  hard   to 
estimate  gains  and  losses  as  between  the  new  and  the  old. 
Temperament  and  age  will  affect  our  sympathies  and  make 
our  appreciation  partial,  and  it  is  a  piece  of  very  pressing 
Christian  duty  for  each  of  us  to  see  that  we  do  not  let  the 
"  personal  equation  "  so  influence  us  as  to  make  us  either 
the  sanguine  and  exclusive  eulogists  of  the  new,  or   the 
pessimistic  and  obstinate  partisans  of  the  old.    We  may  not 
be  better  than  our  fathers,  but  we  have  some  better  thing 
than  they  had,  for  which  we  have  to  thank  God.     We  have 
gained   inasmuch  as  theology   has    become   more    Christ- 
centred.     The  Gospels  are  more  to  the  Church  of  to-day 
than  they  ever  were  before.     There  is  less  of  mere  doctrine, 
and  more  of  Jesus  Clirist.     His  present  activity  as  Lord  of 
the  universe  and  King  of  men  is  increasingly  set  forth,  and 
the  good  news  of  God  is  being  disembarrassed  of  misty 
metaphysics  which  were  once  thought  to  be  theology.     The 
interminable  controversy  between  the  bare  conception  of  an 
omnipotent  will,  and  the  equally  crude  one  of  a  free  human 
will,  has  ceased  to  interest.     The  love  of  God  stands  where 
for  many  generations  the  will  of  God  was  set — in  the  centre. 
The   progressive   character   of  revelation   has  become   an 
article   of  belief,   and  has  made  the  Bible   a   new  book, 
throbbing  with  life  on  all  its  pages.    Christianity  has  become 
more  sympathetic,  and  begins  to  recognize  its  duty  as  to 
social  questions.     The  missionary  task  of  the  Church  has 
been  accepted  by  all  Churches  which  have  any  Hfe  in  them, 
and   of  late   years   we  have   seen  wonderful   increase   of 


"AN   INCREASING   PURPOSE."  lOI 

personal  service  by  all  sorts  of  Christian  people.  Nor 
should  we  overlook,  in  our  summing  up  of  the  good  in  this 
our  day,  the  sharpened  interest  in  religious  questions,  so 
characteristic  of  it,  even  though  that  interest  is  often  hostile 
to  the  claims  of  Christ.  We  should  share  the  confidence  of 
the  brave  apostle,  who  counted  "  many  adversaries  "  as  the 
sign  of  ''a  great  door  and  effectual,"  and  a  reason  for 
protracting  his  stay  in  so  hopeful  a  field. 

But  every  better  may  become  a  worse.  If  former 
generations  grasped  too  exclusively  the  conception  of  the 
sovereign  Divine  will,  they  were  made  strong  men  thereby. 
If  their  religion  was  too  largely  dogmatic  theology,  they 
thereby  won  intense  convictions,  and  a  familiarity  with  pro- 
found and  ennobling  thoughts,  which  saved  life  from  trivi- 
ality, and  devotion  from  degenerating  into  mere  emotion. 
If  their  morality  was  somewhat  rigid  and  stern,  it  kept  them 
grave  and  pure.  If  they  were  too  much  secluded  from  the 
currents  of  literature,  art,  and  science,  their  souls  were 
focussed  on  one  thing,  and  the  concentrated  light  burned. 
Their  narrowness  meant  depth,  and  if  a  stream  is  to  be 
wholesome,  which  it  can  only  be  by  movement,  depth  is 
better  than  a  breadth  which  too  often  is  possible  only 
through  shallowness. 

They  had  the  defects  of  their  quaUties.  So  have  we. 
There  is  danger  that  definite  doctrinal  belief  and  teaching 
shall  be  diminished  to  the  vanishing  point,  partly  from  the 
infection  of  the  unreasonable  revolt  against  "theology," 
and  partly  from  the  influence  of  evangelistic  fervour,  which 
asks  for  "  the  simple  gospel."  There  is  danger  of  so  pre- 
senting the  love  of  God  as  to  neutralize  His  righteousness 
and  His  wrath,  thereby  losing  the  mighty  power  for  per- 
suading men  which  lies  in  knowing  the  terror  of  the  Lord. 


102  "AN   INCREASING  PURPOSE." 

There  is  danger  of  obscuring  the  characteristic  of  the  gospel 
as  good  news  of  redemption,  and  of  the  pulpit's  becoming 
a  professor's  desk  or  a  social  reformer's  platform.     We  have 
said  that  all  social  and  ethical  truth  is  involved  in  and  to  be 
deduced  from  the  facts  of  Christ's  nature  and  mission,  but 
the  first  aspect  of  these  facts  is  their  power  to  bring  forgive- 
ness and  peace  to  guilty  consciences.     Our  wisdom  and  our 
success  will  be  to  keep  to  the  Divine  order,  and  ever  make 
the  first  and  prominent  characteristic  of  the  gospel,  which 
we  believe  and  hold  forth,  its  power  to  deliver  the  single 
soul  from  its  burden  of  sin,  through  faith  in  the  sacrifice  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  then  to  set  forth  its  power  to  furnish  the 
bases  of  all  individual  and  social  action,  in  the  ethics  that 
are  enwrapped  in  its  glad  tidings  that  "  God  so  loved  the 
world,  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  Him  should  not  perish."    We  hear  much  now  of 
applied  Christianity  and  of  the  social  mission  of  the  gospel. 
Let  us  not  forget  that  there  must  be  individual  Christianity 
before  there  can  be  social,  and  that  it  must  be  possessed 
before  it  can  be  applied,  and  that  the  personal  faith  of  sinful 
men  in  Jesus  Christ's  work  as  their  personal  Saviour  is  the 
beginning  of  all. 

There  are  dangers,  too,  arising  from  changed  con- 
.ditions  of  life.  Wealth  has  brought  secularity  in  its  train. 
Education  has  introduced  famiHarity  with  un-Christian  and 
anti-Christian  works  of  genius  and  learning.  Public  and 
political  life  has  opened  a  more  attractive  arena  for  those 
who  in  other  days  would  have  found  their  work  in  more 
distinctively  religious  service.  The  whirl  of  modern  life  in 
which  religious  people  are  caught  up  has  diminished  habits 
of  quiet  meditation  and  devotion.  Even  the  awakened 
sense  of  responsibihty  for  the  neglected,  and  the  consequent 


"AN   INCREASING  PURPOSE."  103 

abundance  of  work  and  of  workers,  bring  snares.  On  the 
whole,  it  may  well  be  questioned  whether  the  modern  types 
of  religion  have  not  lost  much  that  it  would  have  been  gain 
to  keep,  and  gained  something  that  it  would  have  been 
better  to  have  lost.  Is  not  personal  religion  at  a  low  ebb  ? 
Have  we  not  lost  much  of  the  depth  and  unworldliness  of 
ancient  piety  ?  Where  are  the  ancient  intense  reahzation  of 
unseen  realities,  the  ardour  of  communion,  the  continual 
sense  of  a  Divine  presence,  the  atmosphere  of  separation 
surrounding  the  Christian  heart  ?  The  change  from  old 
days  is  not  all  progress.  We  need  the  exhortation,  un- 
welcome as  it  is  in  the  ears  of  an  epoch  which  is  so  proud 
of  its  gains  in  mechanical  arts  and  physical  sciences  that  it 
has  made  contempt  of  the  past  into  an  article  of  its  creed, 
"  Remember  the  days  of  old,  consider  the  years  of  many 
generations :  ask  thy  father,  and  he  will  show  thee ;  thine 
elders,  and  they  will  tell  thee." 

Let  us  beware  lest  we  let  go  the  precious  with  the  vile, 
and,  while  we  fancy  ourselves  far  ahead  of  the  "  simple  and 
narrow  "  rehgion  of  the  past,  should  really  be  casting  away 
the  very  essence  of  revealed  Christianity,  and  with  it  the 
depth  and  fervour  of  personal  godliness,  in  grasping  at  the 
impossible  phantom  of  a  religion  in  harmony  with  that  kind 
of  "  modern  thought "  which  will  not  tolerate  the  super- 
natural, nor  bow  before  the  Christ  who  is  the  Son  of  God 
and  the  Redeemer  of  the  world.  If  these  two  fundamental 
truths  are  falteringly  held,  we  shall  soon  have  to  cry,  "  Where 
be  all  His  miracles  which  our  fathers  told  us  of  ? "  But  if  to 
the  good  things  which  past  ages  discovered  in  these,  we  add 
the  better  things  which  God,  by  the  march  of  events  and  the 
evolution  of  new  powers  in  the  old  gospel  to  deal  with  new 
problems   of  this  eager   day  so   full   of  possibilities   and 


104  "AN   INCREASING  TURPOSE." 

promise  even  in  its  antagonisms,  is  bestowing  on  the 
Churches,  if  they  are  wise  and  large-hearted  enough  to 
welcome  and  accept  them,  then  the  former  days  will  not  be 
better  than  these  ;  but  this  age  too  shall  be  able  to  reproduce 
and  transcend  the  triumphs  of  the  past,  and  shall  acknow- 
ledge with  thankful  wonder,  "  As  we  have  heard,  so  have 
we  seen  in  the  city  of  the  Lord  of  hosts,  in  the  city  of  our 
God." 

III.  The  yet  better  things  in  reserve  for  our  successors. 

Naturally  the  progress  is  not  to  stop  with  us,  but  will 
go  on  as  long  as  there  is  a  Church  on  earth.  We,  too, 
have  but  partial  Hght,  and  have  partially  appropriated  the 
gifts  and  discharged  the  duties  given  and  enjoined  in 
the  pardy  understood  gospel.  How  much  has  yet  to  be 
done  before  all  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  is  drawn  out  into 
the  consciousness  of  Christians  and  incorporated  in  their 
lives !  How  much  more  before  it  passes  from  the  Church 
to  the  world,  and  transforms  it  into  a  Church  !  No  doubt 
future  generations  will  look  back  on  our  insensibility  to  the 
flagrant  contradictions  of  the  social  ethics  of  Christianity, 
which  they  will,  no  doubt,  discern  in  our  lives,  with  the 
same  kind  of  half-pitying,  half-amused  condemnation  with 
which  we  look  back  on  "ages  of  faith,"  which  were  ages 
of  cruelty,  ignorance,  and  persecution,  or  with  which  we 
discover  that  the  devout  author  of  the  great  treatise  on  the 
*'  Freedom  of  the  Will "  was  a  devout  slaveholder.  Slavery 
is  now  recognized  as  unchristian.  War  is  beginning  to  be 
so.  What  venerable  institution  which  the  Churches  have 
canonized  will  the  keener  insight  of  our  successors  expel 
from  the  place  of  honour?  The  Church  of  the  future 
will  have  broken  down  all  sects.  Religion  will  one  day 
be  harmonized  with  "science."     Christian   principles  will 


"AN   INCREASING   PURPOSE."  105 

be  applied  to  social  and  national  life  with  revolutionary 
effects.  Many  of  the  evils  are  already  like  ringed  trees 
in  Australian  forests,  forbidden  at  all  events  to  expand, 
and  sure  in  time  to  die.  There  will  be  a  fuller  baptism 
of  the  Spirit  on  the  happier  Church  that  is  to  be,  resulting 
in  more  consecrated  lives,  in  more  missionary  and  evange- 
listic effort,  and  in  a  finer  harmony  of  nature  and  a  more 
symmetrical  and  majestic  development  of  capacities  in  the 
individual  and  the  community.  Much  destructive  work 
will  have  to  be  done  before  that  consummation  is  reached. 
Does  any  man  suppose  that  the  existing  embodiments  of 
Christianity,  the  churches  of  this  day,  are  meant  to  be 
permanent  ? 

Let  us  not  fear.  There  is  a  trembling  for  the  ark  of 
God,  which  is  the  fitting  issue  of  the  trembler's  conscious- 
ness of  his  own  unfaithful  service.  But  the  ark  is  safe, 
whatever  may  become  of  the  cart  that  bears  it,  or  the  oxen 
that  draw  it.  Out  of  the  wild  sea  of  tossing  contraries  of 
opinion  will  rise  a  shape  of  fairer  beauty  than  hitherto  has 
blessed  the  earth,  like  the  moon  swimming  up  serene  and 
large  from  some  unquiet  ocean.  Not  one  grain  of  the  true 
wheat  shall  fall  to  the  ground,  though  a  million  Satans  had 
the  Churches  to  sift.  There  is  an  exaggerated  conservatism 
which  does  not  love  the  old  so  much  as  it  hates  the  new, 
and  which  understands  neither.  The  men  who  stoned 
Stephen  for  the  sake  of  Moses  would  have  stoned  Moses  for 
the  sake  of  Abraham.  The  things  that  can  be  shaken  will 
be  removed,  that  the  things  which  cannot  be  shaken  may 
remain;  as  some  great  building,  round  whose  sides  have 
clustered  paltry  sheds  that  hid  its  fair  proportions  with 
their  obtrusive  meanness,  stands  out  the  fairer  when  they 
are  swept  away.     The  central  truth  of  the   Divinity  and 


I06  "AN   INCREASING   PURPOSE." 

sacrifice  of  the  Christ  of  God  is  the  imperishable  core  of 
the  Christian  faith.  These  and  the  related  necessarily 
involved  truths  being  preserved,  everything  is  preserved ; 
for  these  truths,  wielded  by  the  Spirit  dwelling  in  the 
Church,  have  power  to  weave  their  own  vestures,  and 
will  in  every  age  mould  the  forms  of  Christian  thought 
and  Ufe  into  such  shapes  as  may  best  correspond  to  the 
wants  of  each  age,  and  most  completely  subserve  the 
increasing  purpose  which  runs  through  all  the  ages,  and 
which  each  age  is  honoured  by  helping  forward  towards 
realization. 

IV.  Our  text  necessarily  includes  the  idea  of  the  final 
perfecting  in  which  all  are  united. 

The  saints  of  the  old  and  the  believers  of  the  new 
covenant  are  not  to  be  perfected  apart.  A  blessed  future 
union  is  shadowed  in  the  words,  as  it  is  required  by  the 
whole  scope  of  the  considerations  suggested  to  us  by 
them. 

There  is  to  be  a  perfect  union  of  all  in  the  common 
joy  of  possession  of  the  common  gift.  On  the  march 
the  pilgrims  were  widely  separated,  but  in  the  camp  their 
tents  will  be  near  each  other.  All  who  follow  the  one 
Shepherd  shall  be  one  flock.  We  can  say  nothing  of  the 
manner  of  that  wondrous  future  union,  which  baffles  our 
grasp  when  we  think  of  the  multitudes  of  whom  the  flock 
is  composed.  But  just  as  Dante  saw  Paradise  under  the 
symbol  of  a  great  rose,  whose  many  petals  were  yet  one 
flower,  and  just  as  astronomers  tell  us  that  the  giant  nebulae, 
consisting  of  infinite  numbers  of  suns,  are  yet  each  one 
whole,  though  we  cannot  imagine  what  forces  bind  together 
across  such  bewildering  spaces,  so  all  who  in  solitude  here, 
and  amid  misconceptions  and  diversities,  have  yet  loved 


"AN   INCREASING   PURPOSE."  107 

the  one  Lord  and  followed  the  one  Shepherd,  shall  couch 
round  Him  above,  and  in  some  mysterious  but  most 
.blessed  manner  know  that  they  "live  together"  and  all 
"  together  with  Him,"  as  the  bond  of  their  unity^  and 
perhaps  the  medium  of  their  intercourse.  There  will  be 
a  united  perfecting  in  the  common  possession  of  the  whole 
Christ.  Even  then  star  will  differ  from  star,  and  we  may 
venture  to  believe  that  each  will  share  his  special  refraction 
of  the  central  light  with  others,  and  the  beams  of  the 
variously  coloured  stars  lovingly  blend  in  perfect  whiteness. 
"  Neither  said  any  among  them  that  any  of  the  things 
which  he  possessed  was  his  own,  but  they  had  all  things 
common." 

There  will  be  united  perfection  in  enjoying  the  results 
of  the  long  unfolding  through  the  ages  of  the  fulness  of 
Christ.  Here  one  generation  originates  and  another  com- 
pletes. It  is  given  to  few  to  see  the  triumph  of  the  cause 
for  which  they  have  fought,  or  the  successful  working  of  the 
plans  which  they  have  inaugurated.  "One  soweth,  and 
another  reapeth,"  is  the  law  for  earth.  But  the  time  comes 
when  all  the  workers  shall  share  in  the  gladness  of  the 
finished  work ;  when  all  who,  separated  by  long  ages,  and 
thick  walls  of  mutual  misconception  and  divergence  in  prac- 
tice and  opinion,  have  yet  been  unknowingly  toiling  towards 
the  same  end,  shall  clasp  inseparable  hands  in  the  great 
result  which  contains  all  their  work.  Division  of  labour  is 
multiplication  of  joy  and  reward.  The  sower  cannot  go 
into  the  waving  harvest  and  pick  out  the  ears  which  have 
sprung  from  the  seed  which  he  sowed.  The  reaper  cannot 
go  up  to  the  stack  and  identify  the  sheaves  that  fell  before 
his  sickle.  The  brook  cannot  recover  its  drops  from  the 
mighty  river  or  the  all-enclosing  ocean.     But  the  one  great 


I08  "AN   INCREASING  PURPOSE." 

result  shall  gladden  all  who  have  ever  helped  to  bring  it, 
and  the  sower  who  went  forth  in  sadness  shall  come  back, 
bearing  "the  sheaves"  that  are  his,  though  another  reaped 
them. 

So,  then,  friends,  let  us  set  ourselves  to  our  small  tasks, 
happy  if  we  can  push  forward  by  the  least  space  the  boundary 
of  Christ's  kingdom,  or  absorb  and  reflect  a  sparkle  of  His 
light.  Let  us  be  reverent  of  those  who  have  gone  before, 
and  thankful  for  that  which  they  have  handed  down  to  us. 
Let  us  pass  it  on,  mended  and  increased  by  our  toil,  to  those 
who  shall  catch  up  our  dropped  torches  and  complete  our 
unfinished  work.  And,  above  all,  let  us  take  as  the  end  of 
these  thoughts  that  stirring  exhortation  to  which  our  text 
leads  up  :  "  Wherefore  seeing  we  also  are  compassed  about 
with  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  let  us  lay  aside  every 
weight,  and  the  sin  which  doth  so  easily  beset  us,  and  let 
us  run  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before  us,  looking 
unto  Jesus,"  in  whom  every  age  finds  its  Leader,  and  all  the 
generations  of  His  saints  shall  at  last  find  their  common 
heaven  of  perfection. 


THE  DEFENCE  OF  THE 
DEFENCELESS. 


THE  DEFENCE  OF  THE 
DEFENCELESS. 

"A  land  of  unwalled  villages  .  .  .  them  that  are  at  rest,  that 
dwell  safely,  all  of  them  dwelling  without  walls,  and  having  neither 
bars  nor  gates." — EzEK.  xxxviii.  ii. 

"  Jerusalem  shall  be  inhabited  as  towns  without  walls.  .  .  .  For  I, 
saith  the  Lord,  will  be  unto  her  a  wall  of  fire  round  about,  and  will 
be  the  glory  in  the  midst  of  her." — Zech.  ii.  4,  5. 

I  HAVE  taken  these  two  passages  together  because  the 
language  in  the  latter  is  evidently  the  echo  of  that  in 
the  former.  In  both,  we  have  the  description  of  a  com- 
munity dwelling  in  a  fashion  very  unusual,  and  very  risky  in 
old  times,  namely,  in  the  open  country,  without  any  walls, 
bars,  or  gates  to  their  cities. 

But  in  the  former  passage  these  dwellers  in  the  open  are 
represented  as  becoming,  by  reason  of  their  defenceless  and 
fancied  security,  the  prey  of  a  cruel  conqueror,  who  comes 
to  "  take  them  for  a  spoil ; "  whereas  in  the  latter  text,  people 
living  in  precisely  the  same  fashion,  without  walls,  bars, 
or  bolts,  are  represented  as  being  in  absolute  security — 
"because  I,  saith  the  Lord,  will  be  a  wall  of  fire  round 
about  them,  and  a  glory  in  the  midst  of  them."  That  is 
to  say,  there  are  two  kinds  of  carelessness  in  the  world, 
two  kinds  of  security  and  supposed  safety;  the  one  foolish 


112        THE   DEFENCE  OF   THE   DEFENCELESS. 

and  fatal,  the  other  devout  and  good.  We  may  be  dwelling 
like  fools  in  unwalled  cities,  when  all  the  land  around  us  is 
laid  waste  by  enemies;  or  we  may  be  dwelling  like  wise 
men  in  unwalled  cities,  because  there  is  a  flaming  barrier 
between  us  and  evil,  through  which  nothing  that  harms  can 
ever  come. 

And  these  two  conditions,  to  the  eye  of  sense,  will  look 
very  much  the  same ;  but,  to  an  eye  that  sees  deeper,  will 
be  as  different  as  heaven  is  from  hell.  We  have  brought 
out,  then,  by  the  juxtaposition  of  these  two  passages,  with 
their  identities  and  differences,  the  vivid  contrast  between 
these  two  ways  of  life,  and  the  tragic  unlikeness  of  their 
respective  ends. 

I.  The  first  text  presents  an  instance  of  a  defenceless 
security  which  is  blind  presumption. 

In  old  times  the  first  condition  of  dwelling  safely  was  to 
find  either  a  site  which  was  inaccessible,  or  to  surround  the 
city  mih.  a  wall  which  was  impregnable. 

All  old  cities  are  usually  perched  upon  hill-tops,  or 
are  surrounded  by  walls,  which,  in  these  "  piping  times 
of  peace,"  are  generally  being  turned  into  boulevards  and 
gardens.  Cities  that  trusted  to  anything  except  strong 
natural  or  artificial  fortifications,  sooner  or  later  became  the 
prey  of  the  enemy.  So  the  phrases  of  these  texts,  which  are 
found  in  Ezekiel,  and  caught  up  by  Zechariah,  appear  once 
or  twice  besides  in  Scripture,  describing  the  condition  of 
exceptional  communities — in  one  case  far  away  in  the 
desert,  and  in  another,  hidden  in  an  almost  inacessible 
corner  between  the  spurs  of  the  Lebanon,  where  the  men 
of  Dan,  as  it  is  said,  dwelt  quiet  and  secure,  far  from  any 
men,  and  having  no  business  with  any. 

Such  defencelessness  was  unwise,  augured  rashness,  and 


THE   DEFENCE   OF   THE   DEFENCELESS.  II3 

was  likely  to  lead  to  disaster.     Is  the  temper  of  security  in 
which  so  many  of  us  live  less  absurd  or  dangerous  ? 

An  extraordinary  access  of  foolhardiness  seems  to 
dominate  the  lives  of  the  mass  of  men,  which  leads  them  to 
neglect  the  plainest  facts,  and  run  risks  that  can  only  be 
called  tremendous.  Every  life  has  possible  and  certain 
dangers,  against  which  it  is  surely  the  part  of  common  sense 
to  provide.  A  wise  man  will  look  ahead,  and  make  sure, 
before  they  come,  that  he  has  some  protection  against  them. 
Death  will  come ;  changes  and  losses  will  come.  The 
strongest  props  will  be  taken  away,  the  closest  embrace 
unclasped ;  hearts  will  be  torn  apart,  and  the  one  which 
bleeds  to  death  be  happier  than  its  companion  which 
feebly  throbs  and  keenly  aches  alone.  Strength  will  decay, 
disappointments  will  fret,  and  failures  depress  the  powers. 
Sickness,  solitude,  pecuniary  losses,  abortive  schemes, 
prodigal  sons,  and  a  thousand  other  ills,  are  either  certain 
or  possible.  These  are  the  heavy-armed  battalions  of  the 
foe;  and  besides  them,  there  are  swarms  of  more  lightly 
accoutred  skirmishers — like  gnats  from  a  bog — sure  to 
harass,  and  making  up  in  numbers  what  they  want  in  weight. 

And,  for  the  most  part,  calamities  come  suddenly. 
Sometimes,  indeed,  there  is  the  slow  gathering  of  the  livid 
thunderclouds,  and  an  awful  brooding  pause  before  the  crash. 
But  generally  evils  come  with  little  warning,  however  long 
they  stay.  How  many  lives  we  have  all  known  shattered 
for  all  their  remaining  years  by  a  bolt  from  the  blue  !  One 
sudden  blow,  the  unheralded  work  of  a  moment,  puts  an 
apparent  eternity  between  the  moment  before  it  and  that 
after  it.  No  day  dawns  on  earth  without  rising  on  some, 
happy,  careless,  and  secure,  on  whom  it  sets,  desolate,  ruined, 
crushed ;  and  no  man  knows^  when  he  wakes  in  the  morning, 

I — 2 


114        TFIE   DEFENCE  OF   THE   DEFENCELESS. 

but  that  he  may  be  rising  to  meet  the  blackest  day  of  his 
life ;  unless,  indeed,  he  may  have  already  drunk  the  bitterest 
draught  that  Fortune  can  compound,  and  so  have  a  kind 
of  sad  immunity,  as  having  outlived  the  worst,  and  bought 
security  by  the  loss  of  his  dearest  treasure.  We  are  like  the 
inhabitants  of  a  winding  glen,  the  curves  of  which  hide  the 
enemy  till  he  bursts,  with  fire  and  sword,  on  the  undefended 
huts.  We  know  not  what  may  be  just  ready  to  rush  on  us 
at  the  next  turning. 

Seeing,  then,  that  so  many  evils  must  come,  and  so  many 
may  come,  and  that  both  the  certain  and  the  uncertain  are 
likely  to  break  on  us  without  warning,  how  unaccountable 
and  incredible,  if  it  were  not  so  universal,  is  the  habit  of 
living  quite  comfortably  without  any  defence  against  these  ! 
There  is  nothing  stranger  in  all  the  strange  vagaries  and 
irrationalities  of  men,  than  their  way  of  blinding  themselves 
to  unwelcome  certainties  and  probabilities.  Most  men  are 
impatient  of  serious  reflection  on  the  realities  of  their 
position,  and  the  indisposition  is  fostered  by  the  continual 
demands  of  the  moment,  and  the  necessity  for  prompt 
attention  to  them.  We  possess,  and  are  foolish  enough 
to  exercise,  that  strange  power  of  ignoring  disagreeable 
things,  however  certain.  It  is  difficult,  too,  to  realize  in 
thought  a  condition  unlike  the  present,  or  to  make  vivid 
and  operative  on  conduct  the  picture  of  one's  self  when 
deprived  of  some  familiar  and  long-enjoyed  good.  "To- 
morrow shall  be  as  this  day,  and  much  more  abundant,"  is 
the  natural  language  of  unreflecting  levity.  It  is  not  only  the 
"  sluggard"  who  might  profitably  go  to  school  to  an  ant-hill. 
The  improvident  man,  who  will  not  believe  that  winter  is 
coming,  while  the  land  is  yellow  with  autumn  sheaves,  may 
well  "  consider  her  ways,"  and,  like  her,  "  gather  food  in 


THE   DEFENCE  OF   THE  DEFENCELESS.  II5 

harvest"  for  the  certainly  dark  and  cold  days  that  are  at 
hand.  Many  of  us  are  like  the  peasants  who  build  their 
houses  and  plant  their  vineyards  on  the  slopes  of  Vesuvius, 
and  live  light-heartedly,  ignoring  the  possible  future,  though 
in  the  day  the  thin  column  of  ominous  smoke  whitens  a  thin 
strip  of  ominous  blue  sky,  and  in  the  night  the  dull  red  of 
the  lava  tinges  the  sides  of  the  cone.  Some  day  there  must 
be,  and  any  day  there  may  be,  an  outburst,  and  grey  ashes 
will  cover  the  vines,  and  earthquake  crack  the  walls  of  the 
houses,  and  ruin  and  haply  death  fall  upon  the  careless 
tenants.  They  run  all  risks,  and  manage  somehow  to 
banish  thoughts  of  the  risks  which  they  run.  So  do 
thousands  of  us  in  regard  to  far  graver  perils,  far  more 
certain  to  assail  us  and  more  disastrous  in  their  destructive- 
ness.  Whole  battalions  of  them  threaten  us  all.  We  may 
make  "  conditions  of  peace  "  with  them,  if  by  prudent  fore- 
sight and  appropriate  precautions  we  "send  an  embasage  " 
while  they  are  at  a  distance ;  for  evils  foreseen  and  prepared 
for  are  robbed  of  much  of  their  power  to  hurt,  in  losing 
their  power  to  surprise.  We  may  even  make  them  our 
friends  if  we  take  them  aright,  which  we  are  much  more 
likely  to  do  if  we  have  anticipated  their  coming  and 
rehearsed  them  beforehand.  Come  they  will,  and  if  they 
find  us  unprepared,  their  blow  will  be  stunning  and  may  be 
fatal. 

Nor  is  it  only  the  usual  refusal  to  contemplate  these 
lowering  certainties  and  possibilities  beforehand  which 
leaves  us  defenceless.  Another  phase  of  favourite  folly  is 
the  conceit  of  our  power  to  cope  with  the  enemy  when  he 
comes.  "  Unwalled  villages"  are  tokens  of  an  overweening 
confidence  in  the  strong  arms  of  the  villagers,  which  will  be 
rudely   shattered   some   day.     How   can   a  man  front  his 


Il6        THE   DEFENCE   OF   THE   DEFENCELESS. 

probable  and  certain  future,  and  keep  his  sanity,  if  he  have 
not  God  for  his  Defence  ?  One  is  tempted  to  say  that  he 
can  only  do  it  because  he  has  not  sense  enough  to  go  mad. 
If  we  had  clearly  before  us  the  reality,  in  its  true  colour, 
form,  magnitude,  pressure,  and  duration,  who  of  us  could 
venture  to  say,  "  Alone  I  can  meet  it  and  endure  "  ?  But, 
partly  because  we  ignore  the  unwelcome,  partly  because  our 
power  of  forecast  is  mercifully  limited,  lest  future  bitterness 
should  poison  present  sweetness,  partly  because  that  too 
feeble  realization  of  impending  disaster  enables  us  to  cheat 
ourselves  into  believing  that  we  can  cope  with  it  when  it 
falls,  we  go  on,  comfortably  .enough,  in  our  "  unwalled 
villages,"  without  bars  or  bolts,  and  seldom  think  of  the 
sudden  foe  who  may  burst  into  the  quiet  seclusion  of  the 
unguarded  valley.  Like  the  people  of  Dan,  to  whom  one 
of  our  texts  refers,  we  may  dwell  "  quiet  and  secure,"  in 
the  proper  meaning  of  that  word — without  care — though, 
alas  !  to  be  without  care  is  not  to  be  without  peril,  and  to 
be  "secure"  is  a  very  different  thing  from  being  "safe." 
The  original  reads  in  our  first  text,  ''  them  that  are  at  rest, 
that  dwell  securely,"  or  confidently,  and  thereby  expresses 
not  the  reality  of  the  villagers'  condition,  but  the  foolhardy 
illusions  of  their  imaginations,  which  were  so  soon  to  be 
shattered  by  the  invader  bursting  in  "  to  take  the  spoil  and 
to  take  the  prey." 

So,  sooner  or  later,  comes  the  crash,  as  the  context  of 
our  first  text  tells  us.  The  destroyer  is  attracted  by  the 
defencelessness  of  the  self-confident  villagers,  and  they  fall 
an  easy  prey.  The  less  the  preparation  and  defence,  the 
more  bitter  the  defeat  and  destruction.  Surely,  then,  it  is 
madness  to  carry  on  full  sail  till  a  typhoon  strikes  the  ship. 
It  is  no  time  then  to  be  hauling  down  sails  and  battening 


THE   DEFENCE   OF   THE   DEFENCELESS.  II7 

down  hatches.  If  we  do  not  prepare  for  the  storm,  and 
prefer  not  to  look  at  the  sinking  barometer,  we  shall 
probably  founder  while  we  are  trying  to  do  what  could  have 
been  easily  done  before.  When  the  enemy  is  blowing  his 
trumpets  for  the  assault  just  outside  the  village,  it  is  too  late 
to  begin  drawing  plans  of  fortifications,  or  hurrying  with 
spades  and  barrows  to  fling  up  earthworks.  It  is  no  doubt 
well  not  to  be  *'  over-exquisite  to  cast  the  fashion  of 
uncertain  evils,"  but  not  to  look  certain  ones  in  the  face,  nor 
have  any  notion  beforehand  of  what  we  propose  to  do  when 
they  come,  as  come  they  will,  is  simple  insanity,  and  would 
be  recognized  as  such,  if  the  bulk  of  men  did  not  keep  each 
other  in  countenance  in  committing  it.  This  is  no  world 
for  unwalled  villages.  Flesh  is  too  sensitive  and  swords  too 
sharp  to  allow  of  wisely  dwelling  in  such.  The  "quiet"  of 
the  men  who  do  so  will  be  terribly  disturbed.  Their  defence- 
less security  is  blind  presumption. 

II.  Our  second  text  brings  out,  in  strong  contrast  to  the 
former,  a  security  which  is  externally  like  it,  but  really 
opposed  to  it,  namely,  the  security  of  quiet  faith. 

The  two  states  of  mind  are  apparently  identical,  just  as 
the  ideal  Jerusalem  of  Zechariah's  vision  looked  exactly  like 
these  other  unwalled  towns.  The  prophecy  was  not  fulfilled 
in  the  real,  rebuilt  Jerusalem ;  but  the  prophet's  eye  saw  the 
ideal  city,  extending  beyond  the  rocky  peninsula,  to  which 
the  real  one  was  confined,  and  stretching  far  on  every  side, 
like  some  of  the  great  cities  which  the  exiles  had  learned  to 
know,  containing  wide  pastures  and  much  cattle,  and  looking 
like  an  assemblage  of  villages,  each  among  its  fields  and 
groves.  But  the  ideal  Jerusalem  is  to  have  no  walls  as 
Babylon  had,  and  to  be  safer  without  than  Babylon  was 
with  these.     One  thing  made  the  difference  between  the 


Il8        THE   DEFENCE   OF   THE  DEFENCELESS. 

unwalled  Jerusalem,  in  which  dwelling  is  safe,  and  the 
unwalled  villages  which  seemed  like  it,  and  dwelling  in 
which  is  ruinous.  The  reason  why  Jerusalem  has  no  walls 
is,  "For  I,  saith  the  Lord,  will  be  unto  her  a  wall  of  fire 
round  about,  and  I  will  be  the  glory  in  the  midst  of  her." 
A  fiery  bulwark  around,  a  flaming  glory  within,  belong  to 
her,  and  make  other  walls  ludicrous  superfluities.  The 
presence  of  Jehovah  is  at  once  defence  and  illumination. 
That  flaming  fire  is  everywhere  at  once,  around  and 
within.  At  one  and  the  same  time  it  burns  threateningly 
between  the  city  and  her  foes,  and  shines  lambently,  a  light 
in  every  dwelling;  "and  the  city  hath  no  need  of  the  sun, 
neither  of  the  moon  to  shine  upon  it,  for  the  glory  of  God 
did  lighten  it."    Therefore  it  is  safe  to  have  no  other  walls. 

Take  the  truth  conveyed  in  this  grand  vision,  laying 
aside  metaphor,  and  it  is  this  :  The  very  same  temper  which 
without  God  is  insanity,  with  God  is  simple  duty,  high 
privilege,  and  the  supremest  wisdom.  "  Take  no  thought 
for  the  morrow."  He  that  has  not  God  to  take  thought  for 
him,  and  puts  that  exhortation  in  practice,  will  wreck  his 
life.  "  I  would  have  you  without  carefulness."  A  man 
that  has  no  "  carefulness  "  for  himself,  and  yet  has  not  cast 
all  his  anxiety  upon  God,  who  takes  an  interest  in  him  and 
undertakes  for  him,  will  soon  have  cause  to  repent  his 
recklessness.  "  To-morrow  shall  be  as  this  day,  and  much 
more  abundant."  The  drunkard  says  that  in  the  original 
use  of  the  phrase.  The  saint  says  it  too.  The  former  is 
wrong  and  foolish  for  saying  it ;  the  other  says  it,  and  is  as 
sure  that  it  is  so  as  that  there  is  a  God  in  heaven. 

So  the  very  same  temper  of  careless  security,  which  in  a 
godless  man  wrecks  and  ruins  both  heart  and  life,  in  a 
Christian  man  is  highest  joy  and  clearest  wisdom.     For  the 


THE   DEFENCE   OF   THE   DEFENCELESS.  II9 

all-important  difference  between  the  two  is  that  round  one 
of  them  there  is,  and  round  the  other  there  is  not,  the 
strong  defence  of  an  Almighty  protection ;  and  in  the  heart 
of  the  man  that  thus  has  cast  himself  upon  God,  and  not 
in  the  other,  there  burns,  beneficent  and  illuminating,  the 
unflickering  flame  of  a  Divine  glory. 

"  A  wall  of  fire  round  about  us."  Yes !  but  if  it  is  to 
be  outside  us,  to  defend,  it  must  first  be  within  us,  to 
enlighten  and  make  us  glad.  And  if  thus  guarded  by,  and 
thus  filled  with,  the  Divine  light,  which  is  at  once  purity 
and  gladness  and  knowledge,  we  cast  all  our  care  upon 
Him,  it  is  not  folly  to  say,  "  I  need  no  bulwarks,  no  towers 
along  the  steep.  The  Lord  is  my  Defence,  because  the 
Holy  One  of  Israel  is  my  King." 

Of  course  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  such  words  as 
those  of  my  second  text  forbid  the  use  of  common  sense, 
diligence,  and  eff"ort  in  providing  for  the  inevitable  future, 
in  so  far  as  these  can  help  to  provide  for  it.  Zechariah 
prophesied  that  the  Jerusalem  which  he  saw  should  have  no 
walls.  But  Zechariah  was  one  of  the  men  who  helped  to 
build  the  walls  of  the  real  Jerusalem,  whose  restoration  was 
largely  owing  to  him.  In  like  manner,  we  are  not  forbidden, 
by  the  requirements  of  Christian  resignation  and  faith  in 
God,  to  forsake  any  precautions  which  common  prudence — 
which,  in  fact,  is  His  voice — suggests  to  us  to  take.  But  we 
are  forbidden  to  fancy  that  these  are  our  defences  and 
security.  Use  them,  and  yet  look  beyond  them  to  Him 
who  alone  can  give  the  blessing. 

Now,  all  that  I  have  been  saying  may  be  gathered  into 
two  words.  How  foolish  it  is  to  front  life  and  what  it  may 
bring,  and  death  and  what  it  must  bring,  without  God  for 
our  Defence  !    And  how  yet  more  foolish,  if  that  be  possible, 


I20        THE   DEFENCE   OF   THE   DEFENCELESS. 

it  is  for  those  who  have  God  for  their  Defence  to  be 
troubled  and  careful  about  many  things,  or  anything !  "  We 
have  a  strong  city;  salvation  will  God  appoint  for  walls 
and  bulwarks."  Let  us  keep  behind  them,  and  trust  in  no 
arm  of  flesh,  but  in  the  unseen  defence  of  the  ever-present 
God ;  and  let  us  seek  first  to  have  Him  for  a  glory  in  the 
midst  of  us,  and  then  surely  He  will  be  a  wall  of  fire  round 
about  us. 


HOW  A  CHURCH   LIVES  AND 

GROWS. 


HOW  A  CHURCH  LIVES  AND 

GROWS. 

"  From  whom  the  whole  body,  by  joints  and  bands  having  nourish- 
ment ministered  and  knit  together,  increaseth  with  the  increase  of 
God." — Col.  ii.  19. 

It  may  assist  us  to  grasp  more  clearly  the  fulness  of  thought 
in  these  words  if  we  disentangle  the  main  idea  from  the 
subsidiary  clauses  gathered  round  it.  That  main  thought 
is  that  from  Christ,  the  Head,  the  whole  body  increases. 
Three  things  are  contained  therein — the  source  of  the  life, 
the  derived  growth,  the  oneness  of  the  body  and  the  partici- 
pation of  all  its  parts  in  that  growth.  But  this  main  thought 
is  enriched  and  arabesqued,  as  it  were,  in  Paul's  eager, 
impetuous  fashion,  with  pregnant  additions.  He  seldom 
draws  a  plain  straight  line,  but  surrounds  it  with  many  a 
curve  and  involution,  like  the  light,  flower-like  decorations 
which  encrust  the  firm  framework  of  the  upper  spire  of 
Antwerp  Cathedral.  They  hide  but  do  not  weaken  the 
direct  upward  spring  of  the  rigid  metal.  His  thoughts  come 
fast  and  press  on  one  another,  and  the  result  seems,  to 
careless  readers,  confusion,  when  it  is  but  the  prodigality 
of  a  fertile  soil  quickened  by  the  warmth  of  Christ's  love 
into  productiveness,  which  is  richness,  not  riot. 


124  HOW   A   CHURCH   LIVES   AND   GROWS. 

The  subsidiary  clause  describes  more  fully  the  twofold 
manner  of  the  growth  of  the  body,  and  the  office  in  relation 
to  that  growth,  of  the  subordinate  parts.  The  body  is  a 
whole,  made  up  of  parts  differing,  and  therefore  adapted 
and  harmonious.  These  have  each  their  function  in  trans- 
mitting the  life.  That  life  manifests  itself  in  the  double 
effect  of  assimilating  nourishment  and  effecting  compaction. 
There  are,  then,  large  truths  involved  in  this  representation, 
as  to  the  source  of  vitality,  the  various  and  harmonious 
action  of  all  the  parts,  the  consequent  growth  of  the  whole, 
and  the  individual  union  to  Christ,  which  is  the  condition 
of  all  individual  and  corporate  increase  which  is  healthy 
and  according  to  God. 

I.  We  have  to  consider  the  Source  of  all  the  hfe  of 
the  body. 

According  to  the  context,  Christ  is  the  Head,  and,  as 
Paul  puts  it  without  being  very  careful  about  physiological 
accuracy,  therefore  the  source  from  which  all  parts  of  the 
body  partake  of  a  common  life.  There  are  three  symbols 
chiefly  employed  to  represent  the  union  of  Christ  with  His 
Church,  one  of  them  being  that  used  by  Christ  Himself, 
and  the  others  principally  by  Paul.  One  knows  not  which 
presents  that  real  and  mysterious  bond  in  the  most  striking 
fashion.  These  are  the  emblems  of  the  vine,  the  body,  and 
the  marriage  bond — the  first  drawn  from  the  noblest  example 
of  plant  life  as  conceived  by  the  old  world ;  the  second, 
from  the  noblest  type  of  animal  existence ;  and  the 
third,  from  the  deepest  and  closest  union  of  human  spirits. 
The  first  expresses  the  calm,  effortless,  uninterrupted 
process  by  which  the  sap  rises  in  the  branches  and  broadens 
in  the  leaves,  and  loads  the  boughs  with  purple  clusters. 
The  repetition  of  similar  parts  is  the  characteristic  of  vege- 


HOW   A  CHURCH   LIVES  AND   GROWS.  12$ 

table  growth.  The  second  brings  into  view  more  of  the 
notion  of  exercise  and  office  on  the  part  of  the  limbs  of  the 
body,  which  do  not  grow  without  effort,  and  maybe  diseased 
and  disabled.  Variety  of  parts  co-operating  in  one  growing 
whole  is  the  characteristic  of  animal  increase.  The  third 
lifts  our  thoughts  into  the  region  of  love  and  voluntary 
choice,  and  reminds  us  of  the  original  distinctness  of  the 
persons  who  become  one,  because  they  love  and  therefore 
wish  to  be  one.  When  we  look  up  into  some  great  tree, 
which  to  our  northern  eyes  is  a  nobler  type  of  vegetable 
growth  than  a  vine,  and  mark  the  clouds  of  foliage,  and 
measure  how  far  it  is  from  the  firm  bole  and  the  deep  roots 
to  the  tiny  leaflet  at  the  topmost  tip  of  the  furthest  branch, 
we  gain  a  wonderful  image  of  the  unity  of  life  which  per- 
meates the  Church.  But  still  more  expressive  of  the  deep 
mystery  which  is  involved  in  the  thought  of  the  oneness  of 
Christ  and  His  people  is  that  other  symbol  of  the  body  and 
its  head.  The  mystery  is  part  of  the  felicity  of  the  figure. 
Who  can  explain  the  connection  of  soul  and  body,  the 
process  by  which  the  thrill  of  a  nerve  becomes  emotion,  and 
the  throb  of  a  bit  of  grey  matter  in  the  skull  a  thought  ? 
Who  can  tell  us  what  life  is  ?  Verbal  definitions  are  plenti- 
ful enough,  but  they  help  little  to  the  comprehension  of  the 
thing.  That  commonest  of  facts,  which  makes  dead  matter 
glow  and  move  under  spiritual  stress,  is  still  inexplicable 
after  anatomist's  scalpels  and  pyschologist's  abstractions 
have  done  their  best  to  lay  bare  its  secret.  Of  man  in  his 
complex  nature  we  may  reverently  say,  as  we  say  of  God, 
in  whose  image  he  is  made  in  regard  to  part  of  his  being, 
"clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  him."  We  may 
expect  no  less  thick  darkness  to  rest  upon  that  mysterious 
and  blessed  union  which  inakes  the  dust  and  ashes  of  sinful 


126  HOW   A  CHURCH   LIVES  AND  GROWS. 

humanity  into  a  living  body,  glowing  and  moulded  by  the 
spirit  of  life  which  was  in  Christ.  We  can  get  no  deeper 
down  nor  further  back  than  His  own  claim,  *'  I  am  the 
Life." 

But  that  union,  though  mysterious,  is  most  real.  It  is 
not  merely  that  Jesus  Christ  gives  to  those  who  trust  and 
obey  Him  certain  gifts  as  from  without,  which  gifts  may  be 
possessed  and  retained  in  the  absence  of  the  Giver,  but 
that  He  is  in  His  people  individually  and  collectively,  and 
by  His  indwelling  imparts  life  within.  What  keeps  a  body 
from  becoming  a  carcase  ?  The  life.  What  keeps  a  Church 
from  becoming  an  offence  and  a  stench?  Christ,  who  is 
the  Head  to  the  body.  His  Church,  and  more  than  the  head 
is  to  the  physical  body,  since  He  is  not  only  the  sovereign 
Member  but  the  all-pervading  Life,  whose  seat  is  not  in  this 
gland  or  that  part  of  the  brain,  bat  everywhere,  filling  all, 
and  quickening  each  part  of  the  mighty  whole  with  the 
capacity  for  reception  and  the  power  of  action  proper 
to  it. 

n.  Note  the  various  and  harmonious  action  of  all  the 
parts. 

We  need  not  inquire  particularly  as  to  the  physiological 
doctrines  underlying  the  metaphor  of  the  text,  or  seek  for 
the  precise  equivalents  in  the  social  organization  of  the 
Church  for  the  "joints  and  bands"  referred  to.  It  is 
enough  for  our  purpose  to  note  the  twofold  office  which 
these  discharge.  They  receive  from  the  Head  and  com- 
municate to  the  body  the  double  gifts  of  nutrition  and 
unity.  They  originate  nothing,  but  all  which  they  impart 
they  first  derive  from  Him.  However  it  may  be  in  the 
physical  body,  in  the  spiritual  analogue  which  is  the 
community  of  Christian  souls,  each  member  has  both  the 


HOW  A  CHURCH   LIVES  AND   GROWS.  1 2/ 

direct  communication  of  life  and  its  gifts  from  the  Head, 
even  Christ,  and   the  indirect   participation   by  means  of 
gifts  received  through  the   brotherly  mediation  of  others. 
He  who  has  no  personal  access  to  the  fountain  of  life,  nor 
ever  draws  at  first  hand  from  it,  will  profit  little  by  anything 
that  men  can  say  or  do  for  him ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
who  does  not  value  and  use  the  gifts  bestowed  at  first  on 
his  brethren  that  they  may  filter  to  others,  will  be  apt  to 
have  a  disproportioned  development  of  the  life,  and  often 
to  mistake  his  own  imaginations  for  Christ's  voice,  and  his 
own   inclinations  for  Christ's  command.     Exaggerated   in- 
dividualism on  the  one  side,  and  dependence  on  the  reports 
of  Christ's  mind  and  will  brought  by  others  on  the  other, 
are  equally  far  from  the  type  of  character  which  corresponds 
to  the  two  facts  in  question,  namely,  that  the  life  which 
the  Head  imparts  to  His  Church  is  imparted  both  by  direct 
contact  of  the  individual  soul  with  its  Lord,  and  through 
the  medium  of  other  members  of  the  body.     The  direct 
communication  between  Jesus  and  the  soul  does  not  make 
the  help  of  brethren  superfluous.     The  agency  of  human 
teachers   and  guides  or  of  the   collective   body,  docs   not 
supersede  the  need  for  the  direct  contact  of  each  soul  with 
Christ.      "Joints    and    bands"    minister    nutriment    and 
compaction,  but  only  on  condition  that  they  are  fed  from 
the  true  bread  of  life,  partaken  of  by  that  faith  which  is  the 
personal  contact  of  the  single  soul  with  the  sole  Redeemer, 
and  are  knit  to  all  who  hold  the  Head,  because  they  realize 
their  own  union  to  Him  by  their  own  grasp.     The  linked 
chain  clasp  hands  and  thus  transmit  the  thrill  from  Him,  but 
each  unit  in  the  chain  grasps  the  Lord's  hand  with  his  own, 
or  no  tingle  of  influence  will  reach  him  through  his  fellows. 
From  Jesus  comes  all  nourishment  of  the  Divine  life. 


128  HOW   A   CHURCH   LIVES   AND   GROWS. 

even  when  we  think  that  we  instruct  or  stimulate  each 
other.  He  is  the  Fountain  of  wisdom  and  good,  and  what- 
ever may  be  the  vessels  which  bring  the  water  to  our  lips, 
they  are  filled  by  Him  and  with  Him.  Just  as  the  bread 
which  we  earn  by  the  sweat  of  our  own  brows,  or  receive  by 
the  hospitality  of  others,  comes  in  truth  from  a  Divine  hand 
opened  to  supply  the  wants  of  every  living  thing,  so,  but  in 
still  more  wonderful  all-pervasiveness  of  influence,  does 
Jesus  feed  all  souls  with  the  Bread  which  is  Himself. 

From  Jesus  comes  the  oneness  of  the  body.  Many 
attempts  have  been  made  to  secure  that  unity  in  other  ways, 
and  to  knit  other  bonds  than  His  own  all-present  and  com- 
pacting life;  but  these  are  vain,  substituting  mechanical 
and  formal  for  real  oneness.  Agreement  in  opinions  as 
expressed  by  creeds,  uniformity  of  polity  as  crystaUized  in 
organizations  or  forms  of  worship,  and  the  like,  are  but  poor 
travesties  of  the  one  true  principle  of  unity.  The  oneness 
of  the  branches  of  the  vine,  in  which  the  same  life  manifests 
itself  in  wood  and  leaf  and  cluster,  is  not  more  unlike  the 
artificial  oneness  of  a  bundle  of  faggots  held  together  by  a 
piece  of  string,  than  is  the  true  oneness  of  the  true  Church 
of  Christ  to  that  of  these  artificial  agglomerations.  The 
one  derived  life  is  the  only  real  bond  of  unity.  In  the  old 
covenant,  the  seven-branched  candlestick  represented  the 
formal  unity  of  Israel,  which  was  one  by  reason  of  mere 
natural  descent  from  one  ancestor,  and  the  rigid  stiffness  of 
the  symbol  may  be  taken  as  expressive  of  the  mechanical 
and  external  nature  of  the  bond  which  held  the  tribes 
together.  But  the  golden  candlestick  lies  deep  in  the  sea, 
and  in  the  new  covenant  order  its  place  is  taken  by  the 
seven  which  the  seer  beheld,  which  are  one  in  their  seven- 
foldness  because  the  ascended  Lord  walks  in  the  midst  of 


HOW  A  CHURCH   LIVES  AND  GROWS.  1 29 

them.  This  is  a  better  unity  than  that  of  old.  The  nearer, 
then,  we  draw  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  nearer  we  shall  be  to 
one  another.  The  radii  of  a  circle  are  closer  together  the 
closer  they  are  to  the  centre,  and  if  we  who  stand  round 
Jesus  Christ  travel  each  on  our  own  direct  line  of  progress 
towards  Him,  we  shall  find  ourselves  in  closer  neigh- 
bourhood with  separated  brethren  journeying  to  the  one 
point  to  which  widely  removed  and  even  opposite  paths 
converge.  Life,  and  life  alone,  resists  the  chemical  and 
other  forces  which  tend  to  disintegrate  the  physical  body. 
Death  means  resolving  that  into  its  elements.  Union  to 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  bond  and  the  power  of  true  unity. 

Since  these  issues  of  the  Divine  life  are  ministered  by 
the  members,  even  while  all  derived  from  the  Head,  we 
may  lay  to  heart  the  manifold  uses  of  fellowship  and 
the  need  which  each  has  of  others.  The  true  value  of 
Church  union  is  much  obscured  to-day,  not  only  by  the 
many  other  forms  of  association  which  fill  so  large  a  place 
in  modern  life,  but  also  by  the  opposite  and  mutually  pro- 
ducing exaggerations  of  theories  in  which  the  Church  is 
everything  and  the  individual  nothing,  and  of  those  in 
which  individualism  is  so  asserted  that  there  is  scant  justice 
done  to  the  idea  of  the  community.  It  is  hard  to  keep  the 
true  path  between  these  extremes.  But  if  we  give  due 
weight  to  the  two  short  clauses  of  this  text,  "  from  whom  " 
on  the  one  hand,  and  *'  by  joints  and  bands  "  on  the  other, 
we  shall  at  least  have  the  materials  for  a  duly  proportioned 
estimate  of  the  two  modes  of  thought,  which  are  com- 
plementary and  harmonious,  though  often  pitted  against 
each  other. 

It  is  not  good  for  man  to  be  alone,  and  the  religious 
life  which  is  developed  in  solitary  reliance  on  the  individual 

K — 2 


I30  HOW  A  CHURCH   LIVES   AND   GROWS. 

perception  of  truth  in  Christ  and  reception  of  grace  from 
Him  will  usually  be  deformed  by  exaggeration  of  individual 
peculiarities,  and  disproportioned  prominence  given  to 
fragments  of  truth.  It  is  not  good  for  man  to  be  so  lost 
in  the  community  as  to  distrust  his  own  judgment,  enlight- 
ened by  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  unless  he  has  its  sentences 
endorsed  by  the  body,  or  to  depend  only  on  other  men 
and  on  rites  for  spiritual  supplies.  ''From  Christ"  rele- 
gates the  soul  in  the  last  resort  to  Jesus  as  the  Source  of 
all  its  life  and  nourishment;  "by  joints  and  bands"  bids  it 
thankfully  use  brotherly  mediation. 

Since  the  laws  of  nourishment  and  growth  are  thus 
stated,  each  member  of  the  whole  body  has  its  work.  In 
these  offices  there  is  the  greatest  variety,  just  as  there  are 
many  organs  with  different  functions  in  the  physical  body. 
The  same  life  is  light  in  the  eye,  strength  in  the  arm,  colour 
in  the  cheek,  music  on  the  tongue,  swiftness  in  the  foot. 
"  So  also  is  Christ."  The  higher  we  rise  in  the  scale  of 
being,  the  more  the  organs  are  differentiated,  and  each 
confined  to  its  special  function.  The  lowest  form  of  life  is 
but  a  sac,  which  can  be  turned  inside  out  without  harm, 
and  has  no  division  of  labour  to  separate  portions  of  the 
vmspecialized  whole.  So  in  society,  the  more  it  is  developed, 
the  more  are  its  members  confined  to  ever  narrower  ranges 
of  work.  In  primitive  communities,  each  man  does  all  the 
simple  offices  which  any  man  does.  The  measure  of 
"civilization"  is  the  limitation  of  function.  So  in  the 
Church,  the  effect  of  Christianity  is  to  develop  individual 
character,  and  also  to  knit  men  more  closely  together. 
The  whole  octave  is  needed.  Diversity  is  the  condition  of 
harmony. 

Do  we  not,  then,  fail  in  tolerance  ?    We  are  all  apt  to 


HOW  A  CHURCH   LIVES  AND    GROWS.  I3I 

.  require  that  all  voices  shall  sing  our  part,  forgetting  that 
the  whole  score  must  be  sounded  in  order  to  represent  the 
great  master's  purpose.  We  fail  in  welcoming  different 
modes  of  work,  different  reproductions  of  the  perfect  life, 
different  reflections  and  refractions  of  the  light.  We  fail  in 
courage  to  be  ourselves,  to  see  for  ourselves  and  to  act 
accordingly,  one  after  this  manner  and  one  after  that. 
White  light  is  produced  by  the  blending  of  all  rays  of  dif- 
ferent hue.  It  needs  the  combination  of  all  types  of  excel- 
lence and  of  all  partial  glimpses  of  truth  to  set  forth  the 
fulness  of  that  Christ  who  filleth  all  in  all,  and  is  more 
than  all.  "iVll  these  worketh  that  one  and  the  selfsp-iie 
Spirit,  dividing  to  every  man  severally  as  He  will."  Let 
us,  then,  take  heed  that  we  are  good  stewards  of  the  mani- 
fold grace  of  God,  honouring  its  variety  of  operations  in  the 
Christians  most  unlike  ourselves,  and  cultivating  the  special 
form  of  its  gifts  entrusted  to  us,  neither  trying  to  make 
others  like  ourselves  nor  ourselves  like  others. 

III.  Note  the  consequent  increase  of  the  whole. 

"  The  increase  of  God  "  is  a  solemn  expression,  which 
may  either  refer  to  the  increase  of  the  Divine  life  in  the 
members  of  the  body,  or  to  the  increase  of  the  body  from 
without.  Probably  both  ideas  were  in  the  apostle's  mind. 
He  would  have  us  discriminate  between  other  sorts  of 
growth  and  that  only  wholesome  kind,  of  which  God  is  the 
Authorj-which  is  imparted  from  Christ  to  those  who,  as  the 
previous  verse  describes,  "  hold  the  Head." 

The  increase  of  life  in  the  Church,  then,  both  as  a 
community  and  in  its  separate  elements,  depends  on  the 
harmonious  activity  of  all  the  parts.  Not  only  does  each 
organ  contribute  to  health  and  growth,  but  the  condition 
of  its  own  health  and  growth  is  its  activity.     The  disused 


132  now  A  CHURCH   LIVES   AND   GROWS. 

member  atrophies.  The  used  faculty  is  strengthened.  "  To 
him  that  hath  shall  be  given."  If  a  man  in  Christ  desires 
His  own  religious  character  to  be  deepened,  let  him 
exercise  the  religion  he  has,  and  by  it  control  his  life. 
Let  it  underlie  his  actions,  and  let  him  translate  all  his 
creed  into  conduct,  and  set  all  his  devout  emotions  to  drive 
the  wheels  of  daily  duty.  Faith  exercised  will  become  more 
clear  and  long-sighted,  like  the  sailor's  keen  eyes,  and  will 
see  the  land  that  is  very  far  off,  where  others  are  aware  of 
nothing  but  cloud.  The  true  way  to  increase  any  Christ-like 
trait  of  character  is  to  give  it  full  scope  in  life. 

The  collective  growth  in  the  Divine  life  is  also  dependent 
on  the  activity  of  all,  and  sadly  hampered  when  some  are 
idle.  A  very  insignificant  member  of  the  physical  frame 
can  become  of  immense  importance  by  failing  to  do  its 
work,  and  there  are  many  professing  Christians  who  are 
able  by  the  same  method  to  stop  much  progress.  The 
dead  weight  of  carelessness  and  non-participation  in 
Christian  life  and  service  which  every  Church  has  to  carry 
terribly  retards  its  progress.  A  tiny  clot  of  blood  blocking 
a  thread-hke  artery  can  kill  a  man.  The  inert  masses  of 
nominal  Christians  have  arrested  the  march  of  every  out- 
burst of  quickened  religious  life,  as  we  hear  of  armies  of 
caterpillars  stopping  trains.  So  much  heat  has  to  be 
expended  in  converting  ice  into  water,  that  there  is  little 
left  for  making  the  water  boil  and  give  ste&m.  We  have 
all  more  power  to  help  than  we  often  believe,  and  far  more 
to  hinder  than  we  think. 

In  like  manner  the  increase  of  the  Church  from  without 
depends  on  its  vitality  within,  and  on  the  concurrent  activity 
of  all  its  members.  The  great  Lord  of  the  household  has 
left  "  to  every  man  his  work,"  and  no  one  can  neglect  his 


now  A  CHURCH   LIVES   AND   GROWS.  1 33 

own  task  without  damaging  the  well-being  of  the  household. 
Great  gifts  designate  for  great  work,  as  it  is  called  by 
vulgar  opinion  ;  but  great  or  small  are  adjectives  which  have 
no  place  in  God's  judgment  of  our  service.  The  smallest 
part  of  a  machine  is  as  needful  as  the  largest  for  the 
working  of  the  machine.  Ignorant  spectators  admire  the 
huge  cranks  and  polished  columns  of  steel  which  serve  as 
pistons;  but  take  away  a  screw  or  two  half  an  inch  lung 
and  unseen,  and  crank  and  piston  are  motionless.  The 
feeble  members,  says  Paul,  are  necessary.  Great  and 
small,  weak  and  strong,  are  man's  adjectives,  often  wrongly 
applied  and  always  foreign  to  the  Divine  criterion  of  work, 
which  is  not  its  magnitude,  but  its  motive  and  its  aim. 

But  the  increase  of  the  body  from  without  depends  not 
only  on  the  action  of  all  its  parts,  but  on  their  health  and 
vitality.  Work  for  Christ  is  warranted  and  efficacious  only 
when  it  is  a  consequence  of  life  in  Christ.  There  must 
first  be  life,  and  then  the  acts  of  life.  And  this  sequence  is 
needful  to  be  kept  steadily  in  view  in  these  busy  days, 
when  so  many  voices  urge  to  activity.  It  has  come  to  be 
the  fashion  to  engage  in  some  kind  of  Christian  service,  and, 
amid  all  this  bustle,  there  is  danger  that  the  inward  com- 
munion, without  which  all  the  outward  service  lacks  its 
consecration  and  its  power,  may  be  starved.  The  gal- 
vanized twitchings  of  a  corpse  simulate  life's  movements  in 
a  ghastly  parody ;  and  much  of  the  whipped-up  activity  of 
Christian  people,  to  which  so  many  voices  urge  now,  is 
little  better  than  these. 

There   is   an  increase  which  is  not    "  the   increase  of 
God."     The  vulgar  worldly  estimate  of  success  invades  the 
Church,  and  popular  preaching,   crowds  to  listen,  wealth, 
social  status,  fine   buildings,  large  contributions,  vigorous 


134  HOW  A  CHURCH   LIVES  AND   GkOWS. 

organizations  and  the  like,  which  shopkeepers  would  count 
prosperity  in  their  business,  are  too  often  complacently 
pointed  to  as  signs  of  a  healthy  Church,  But  all  these  can 
be  attained  without  one  tingle  of  the  Divine  life  passing 
through  the  carcase.  Such  increase,  without  the  deepening 
and  spread  of  the  quick  vitality  drawn  from  Jesus  Christ,  is 
not  healthy  growth,  but  a  diseased  wen,  which  must  be 
excised  before  soundness  returns,  or  a  dropsical  swelling 
which  must  be  reduced.  The  autumn  meadows  are  full  of 
puff-balls  which  look  white  and  solid,  but  have  nothing 
inside  but  an  acrid  powder.  The  difference  between  these 
and  the  ripening  fruit  in  the  orchard,  is  the  difference 
between  the  increase  with  which  too  many  Christian  com- 
munities are  pleased,  and  that  which  is  worthy  of  being 
called  "the  increase  of  God."  It  is  not  hard  to  build 
quickly  and  high,  if  we  are  content  to  take  our  mortar  from 
the  slime-pits,  and  to  make  bricks  a  substitute  for  stones. 
But,  sooner  or  later,  the  lightning  will  fall  on  the  tower,  and 
the  speech  of  its  builders  be  confounded,  and  their  con- 
federation scattered.  The  true  building  can  only  rise  when 
each  stone  is  built  on  the  one  Foundation,  and  all  are 
held  together  by  no  outward  bond,  but  by  the  Ufe  that 
pulsates  through  all  the  courses  of  the  temple  that  rises 
through  the  ages  for  an  habitation  of  God. 

IV.  Note  the  personal  hold  of  Jesus  Christ  which  is  the 
condition  of  all  life  and  growth. 

Nourishment,  unity,  growth,  all  come  from  Him,  and 
are  realized  by  us  if  we  fulfil  the  plain  condition  stated  in 
the  context,  and  are  "  holding  the  Head."  In  the  vine  the 
sap  rises  naturally  without  effort  on  the  part  of  tendril  or 
leaf,  and  the  life  circulates  through  the  body  by  the  automatic 
and  unconscious  action  of  the  organs.    But  these  metaphors 


HOW  A  CHURCH  LIVES  AND  GROWS.  1 35 

fail  in  describing  the  requisites  for  the  reception  of  life  from 
Jesus,  and  we  have  to  make  them  out  with  the  other  symbol 
of  the  bride  and  bridegroom,  in  which  the  union  of  persons 
is  ennobled,  because  it  requires  voluntary  choice  and  con- 
scious cleaving  of  the  one  to  the  other,  in  an  effort  which 
itself  is  blessedness,  and  is  the  condition  of  tasting  the 
fullest  sweetness  of  the  purest  joy  of  earth,  which  in  its 
purity  mirrors  the  heaven  bending  above  loving  hearts. 

What,  then,  is  the  effort  which  we  should  put  forth  in 
order  to  secure  the  flow  of  Christ's  life  through  ourselves 
and  our  Churches?  The  apostle  uses  a  vigorous  word, 
the  force  of  which  may  be  felt  by  reference  to  other 
instances  of  its  employment.  It  is  used  to  describe  the 
action  of  the  women  after  the  Resurrection,  when  they 
clasped  Christ's  feet  with  the  grasp  of  love  that  had  passed 
in  one  astounding  leap  from  the  depth  of  misery  to  the 
height  of  rapture.  It  is  used  to  describe  the  tight  clasp 
with  which  the  lame  men  held  Peter  and  John,  afraid  that, 
if  he  let  go,  he  would  fall.  So  it  implies  a  firm,  almost 
desperate  clutch,  in  which  Love  and  Need,  like  two  hands, 
clasp  Him  and  will  not  let  Him  go.  Such  tenacious  grip 
implies  the  adhesive  energy  of  the  whole  nature — the  mind 
laying  hold  upon  truth,  the  heart  clinging  to  love,  the 
will  submitting  to  authority.  It  will  not  be  attained  and 
continued  without  effort.  The  fingers  slacken  unless  their 
grasp  is  continually  renewed,  and  the  appeals  of  sense  and 
of  the  necessary  tasks  concerned  with  the  material  present, 
through  they  may  be  so  answered  and  done  as  to  bring  us 
nearer  to  our  Lord,  may  also  part  us  from  Him.  They 
will  certainly  separate  us  from  Him  unless  we  have  sacred 
times  in  our  lives  when  we  shut  out  the  world  and  renew 
our  hold  of  Him.     The  will  has  much  to  do  with  the  firm- 


136         HOW  A  CHURCH  LIVES  AND   GROWS. 

ness  of  a  Christian's  liold  of  Christ.  If  we  honestly  and 
earnestly  resolve  that,  God  helping  us,  we  will  not  let  the 
world  and  the  flesh  loosen  our  grasp  of  Him,  we  shall 
have  a  new  criterion  for  the  world's  good  and  evil,  a  new 
test  for  its  treasures,  a  new  insight  into  what  is  our  true 
felicity.  That  firm  grasp  is  the  indispensable  condition  of 
drawing  hfe  from  Him,  and  the  measure  of  our  adherence 
to  Jesus  Christ  is  the  measure  of  our  vitality. 

So  all  the  manifold  duties  of  the  Christian  Hfe  come  at 
last  to  be  summed  up  in  this  one,  of  keeping  close  to  Jesus. 
When  Barnabas  was  sent  down  to  see  into  the  strange  new 
phenomenon  of  Gentiles  who  had  received  Christ,  what  did 
he  exhort  these  new  converts,  just  rescued  from  heathenism, 
and  weak  and  ignorant,  to  do  ?  He  did  not  bid  them  seek 
to  acquire  fuller  theological  knowledge,  or  to  secure  an 
orderly  ministry  of  ordained  men,  or  to  organize  them- 
selves in  proper  fashion.  All  these  things,  if  necessary, 
would  come,  if  what  he  did  enjoin  were  done.  "  He  ex- 
horted them  all  that  with  purpose  of  heart  they  should 
cleave  unto  the  Lord."  Do  that,  and  all  else  will  follow. 
Hold  fast  by  Him,  Hke  the  limpet  to  the  rock.  He  Him- 
self has  summed  all  our  duty  and  pointed  the  path  of  safety 
in  His  parting  invitation,  which  offers  all  blessedness,  and 
enjoins  a  duty  which  love  will  find  a  sweet  necessity  and 
purest  joy :  "  Abide  in  Me,  and  I  in  you.  As  the  branch 
cannot  bear  fruit  of  itself,  except  it  abide  in  the  vine ;  no 
more  can  ye,  except  ye  abide  in  Me." 


WISE   HASTE. 


WISE   HASTE. 

"  See  that  ye  hasten  the  matter."— 2  Chron.  xxiv.  5. 

The  young  King  Joash,  under  the  tutelage  of  the  high 
priest  Jehoiada,  made  up  his  mind  to  attempt  a  Jewish 
reformation.  The  first  step  was  building,  or  at  all  events 
repairing,  the  neglected  and  ruinous  temple.  The  king 
summoned  the  proper  ecclesiastical  authorities,  by  whose 
default  it  had  come  into  such  a  condition,  and  instructed 
them  immediately  to  take  steps  to  gather  in  the  necessary 
contributions.  He  does  not  seem  to  have  been  quite  sure 
of  his  men— or,  rather,  he  was  tolerably  sure  of  them ;  for  he 
thought  it  necessary  to  stir  them  with  this  somewhat  curt 
and  stringent  exhortation  :  "  See  that  you  do  not  let  the 
grass  grow  under  your  feet ;  but  hasten  the  matter,"  namely, 
the  raising  of  funds.  And  w^e  are  told,  notwithstanding, 
"  the  Levites  hastened  it  not."  Church  authorities  do  not 
often  much  like  laymen's  interference  with  their  prerogatives, 
and  are  accustomed  to  take  matters  a  great  deal  more  easily 
than  the  more  impetuous  outsiders,  who  are  enthusiastic, 
and  seek  to  quicken  official  and  professional  indifference. 
However,  we  need  not  say  anything  more  about  Joash  and 
his  lazy  Levites,  but  take  these  words  as  a  very  imperative 
and  earnest  exhortation  to  ourselves.  "See  that  ye  hasten 
the  matter,"  whatever  it  be  that  God  has  entrusted  to  you. 


140  WISE  HASTE. 

I.  There  are  two  kinds  of  haste,  the  right  and  the 
wrong. 

Haste  which  comes  from  imperfectly  appropriated  con- 
victions is  wrong.  The  seed  that  sprung  up  quickly  did  so 
because  it  had  no  depth  of  earth,  and  since  it  had  not,  it 
could  have  no  length  of  rcot,  and  because  it  had  no  length 
of  root  it  had  nothing  to  sustain  it  in  the  scorching  heat 
and  the  sunshine,  and  it  withered  avfRy.  There  are  many 
earnest  people  who  are  in  such  a  hurry  to  begin  Christian 
work — in  these  days  of  exhortation  to  good  people  to  be 
doing  something  for  God — and  who  make  it  their  occupation 
so  completely,  that  they  have  no  time  to  look  after  the  roots 
of  their  Christian  life,  and  consequently  they  bear  no  fruit 
worth  harvesting.  The  haste  which  seeks  to  abbreviate  the 
preparatory  processes  of  meditation  and  communion  with 
God,  and  appropriation  of  His  grace,  is  unblest  haste.  And, 
in  regard  to  its  apparent  results  in  matters  of  Christian 
effort,  the  cynical  saying  in  the  Book  of  Proverbs  will  come 
true,  "  An  inheritance  may  be  gotten  hastily  at  the  begin- 
ning ;  but  the  end  thereof  shall  not  be  blessed." 

There  is  another  kind  of  haste,  which  is  a  counterfeit  of 
the  true.  Hurry  pretends  to  be  haste,  but  it  is  "half-sister 
to  delay."  The  quickness  which  vamps  up  superficial 
work  is  not  the  conduct  enjoined  on  us  in  the  words  of  our 
text.  Time  spent  in  digging  deep  foundations  is  not  lost, 
though  there  is  nothing  above  ground  to  show  for  it  after 
many  days'  work.  It  looks  rapid  work  to  run  up  walls  a 
brick  and  a  half  thick,  and  with  scarcely  any  depth  of 
foundation,  but  they  will  fall  even  more  quickly  than  they 
were  built  if  a  gale  blow. 

Another  kind  of  spurious  haste  we  are  sometimes  tempted 
to  fall  into,   namely,  the  haste  which  is   sure  to   tire  the 


WISE  HASTE.  141 

worker  because  he  began  too  fast.  In  a  long  foot-race  the 
competitor  who  is  "  leading "  at  the  first  "  lap "  is  very 
seldom  the  winner.  It  is  better  to  begin  at  such  a  pace  as 
we  can  keep  up,  than  at  such  as  takes  away  all  our  breath 
before  we  have  covered  half  the  course.  Look  at  the  work- 
men who  have  for  ten  hours  a  day  to  use  trowel  or 
hammer.  We  think  that  we  could  do  it  twice  as  fast,  and 
quite  as  thoroughly.  So  perhaps  we  could  for  a  few 
minutes,  but  when  the  task  has  to  be  kept  up  all  day  long, 
and  six  days  a  week,  the  amateur  will  find  out  how  much 
homely  wisdom  there  is  in  the  old  proverb,  ''The  more 
haste  the  less  speed."  Something  that  is  "  slow  to  begin, 
and  never  ending,"  is  the  kind  of  haste  to  be  recommended. 
It  is  easy  to  light  a  fire  with  straw  and  brown  paper,  and  it 
will  burn  up  cheerily  and  brightly  long  before  coals  begin 
to  smoke  ;  but  which  fire  will  last  the  longer?  "See  that 
ye  hasten  the  matter  "  by  all  means ;  but  see,  too,  that  you 
do  not  cut  short  the  private,  meditative,  contemplative  side 
of  your  Christian  life  ;  and  see  that  you  do  not  put  in 
superficial  work ;  and  see  that  you  calculate  your  strength 
and  your  persistence  wisely,  and  begin  at  the  same  rate  as 
that  at  which  you  mean  to  end.  For  when  the  apostle 
said,  "  Ye  did  run  well ;  what  did  hinder  you  ? "  it  would 
have  been  a  true  answer  if  some  of  the  Galatians  had  replied, 
"  We  ran  so  well  at  first  that  that  hindered  us  from  keeping 
up  the  pace." 

II.  Consider  some  of  the  fields  in  which  the  enjoined 
hastening  of  the  matter  is  to  be  put  in  practice. 

If  I  were  now  preaching  to  a  congregation  that  was 
not  so  largely  composed  of  professedly  Christian  people, 
of  course  the  first  thing  that  I  should  say  would  be,  "  See 
that  you  hasten  the  matter  of  your  own  personal  acceptance 


142  WISE   HASTE. 

of  Jesus  Christ  as  your  Saviour."  For  that  is  the  foundation 
of  all,  and  "now  is  the  accepted  time."  There  may  be 
some  one  to  whom  these  words  may  come,  some  young 
man  or  woman,  or  perhaps  some  older  person,  who  has 
been  thinking  and  hesitating,  and  all  but  actually  leaning 
his  or  her  whole  trust  upon  Christ,  and  who  yet  has  delayed 
it.     "See  that _)'^  hasten  the  matter." 

But,  then,  seeing  that  the  most  of  you  are,  at  all  events, 
nominal  Christians,  our  exhortation  is  mainly  to  be  directed 
to  the  subsequent  steps  of  the  Christian  life. 

For  instance,  see  that  nothing  comes  between  us  and 
the  immediate  abandonment  of  anything  and  everything  that 
we  know  or  suspect  to  be  wrong.  There  are  things  which 
cannot  be  done  quickly,  and  there  are  some  other  things 
which  can  scarcely  be  done  except  quickly,  and  I  doubt 
whether  any  man  ever  plucked  up  strongly  rooted  sin  or 
fault  unless  he  did  it  suddenly,  and  out  and  out,  and  by 
one  supreme  effort  of  will,  which  loosened  the  fangs  of  the 
roots.  You  cannot  draw  decayed  teeth  gradually.  There 
must  be  a  wrench.  Of  another  of  the  Jewish  religious 
reformations  it  is  said,  "The  thing  was  done  suddenly," 
and  therefore  it  was  thoroughly  done,  and  so  "  all  the  people 
rejoiced."  When  the  serpent  came  out  of  the  heat,  "  and 
fastened  upon  Paul's  hand,"  suppose  he  had  said  to 
himself,  "  Now,  this  thing  must  be  done  gradually.  We 
must  get  rid  of  this  evil  by  degrees ;  it  will  not  do  to  hurry 
the  process  too  much."  You  cannot  take  a  serpent  off  a 
man's  arm  at  the  rate  of  a  coil  a  day,  but  must  shake  it  into 
the  fire  as  quickly  as  possible,  with  one  vigorous  motion 
at  once.  The  beginning  of  all  true  conquest  of  our  evil  is 
an  instantaneous  resolve  to  cast  it  from  us,  followed  by 
immediate,  persistent,  and   unresting  action.      I   know   it 


WISE   HASTE.  143 

will  be  a  lifelong  work.  The  embankments  meant  to  bring 
the  erratic  course  of  the  river  into  bounds  and  to  keep  in 
the  floods  may  be  swept  away  and  have  to  be  rebuilt. 
They  will  certainly  want  constant  watching  and  frequent 
strengthening.  But  the  longer  and  more  difficult  the  work, 
the  more  reason  for  the  ringing  summons,  "  See  that  ye 
hasten  the  matter ; "  since,  if  a  thing  is  wrong,  it  cannot  be 
given  up  too  soon,  and  delay  only  gives  the  evil  more 
power. 

In  like  manner,  whenever  we  know  a  thing  to  be  duty, 
do  not  let  us  delay  a  second  in  the  performance  of  it.  One 
of  the  old  psalms  says,  "  I  made  haste,  and  delayed  not, 
but  made  haste  to  keep  Thy  commandments."  That  is  the 
language  of  all  true  obedience.  When  I  was  a  boy,  in  the 
days  when  parental  discipline  was  rather  more  of  a  reality 
than  it  is  now,  my  father  used  to  say,  "  My  boy,  not 
obedience  only,  but  prompt  obedience."  Most  of  us,  no 
doubt,  have  found  out  by  this  time  that  when  a  disagreeable 
duty  has  to  be  performed  it  is  best  to  get  it  over  at  once. 
The  more  nauseous  the  draught,  the  more  need  there  is  to 
gulp  it  down  quickly.  No  unwelcome  tasks  become  any  the 
less  unwelcome  by  putting  them  off  till  to-morrow.  It  is 
only  when  they  are  behind  us  and  done,  that  we  begin  to 
find  that  there  is  a  sweetness  to  be  tasted  afterwards,  and 
that  the  remembrance  of  unwelcome  duties  unhesitatingly 
done  is  welcome  and  pleasant.  Accomplished,  they  are  full 
of  blessing,  and  there  is  a  smile  on  their  faces  as  they  leave 
us.  Undone,  they  stand  threatening  and  disturbing  our 
tranquillity,  and  hindering  our  communion  with  God.  If 
there  be  lying  before  you,  my  brother,  any  bit  of  work  from 
which  you  shrink,  go  straight  up  to  it  and  do  it  at  once. 
The  only  way  to  get  rid  of  it  is  to  do  it.     In  the  quaint 


144  WISE   HASTE. 

dialect  of  the  early  Quakers,  '-'to  be  clear  of  my  burden" 
meant — to  fulfil  some  hard  task  which  God  was  felt  to  have 
enjoined ;  and  there  is  no  other  escape  from  the  pressure 
of  disagreeable  duties  than  this,  "See  that  ye  hasten  the 
matter." 

I  might  apply  this  exhortation  of  our  text  in  another 
direction,  upon  which,  however,  I  do  not  need  to  dwell. 
The  original  application  of  the  saying  was  to  one  form  of 
what  has  too  much  monopolized  the  title  of  "  work  for  God," 
namely,  efforts  directed  specially  to  the  diffusion  of  religion. 
If  men  dawdled  at  their  business  in  the  way  in  which  they 
dawdle  at  doing  their  Christian  work,  they  would  all  be  in 
the  bankruptcy  court  before  the  year  was  out.  And  unless 
we  form  a  vigorous  determination  that  we  shall  be  like  our 
Master,  "  unhasting  "  in  the  false  sense  of  the  word,  "  but 
unresting,"  and  promptly  filling  every  moment — and  how 
elastic  the  moments  are  ! — with  the  service  which  the  moment 
requires,  we  shall  pass  out  of  life  with  very  little  done. 
"See  that  ye  hasten  the  matter." 

III.  Let  me  for  a  moment,  before  I  close,  suggest  one 
or  two  of  the  plain  reasons  why  such  haste  as  I  have  been 
trying  to  describe  is  absolutely  necessary  for  us. 

There  is  so  much  to  do,  so  much  in  perfecting  our  own 
Christian  character  and  in  winning  the  world  for  our  King. 
"There  remaineth  yet  very  much  land  to  be  possessed." 
How  little  we  have  accomplished  in  all  these  years  !  How 
little  liker  our  Master  we  are  than  we  were  five,  ten,  twenty 
years  ago  !  How  little  victory  we  have  won  over  our  be- 
setting weaknesses  !  How  few  of  the  habits  that  we  long  ago 
knew  to  be  deleterious  we  have  got  rid  of!  So  much  waits 
and  craves  to  be  done.  If  we  are  slothful,  the  devil  and 
his  angels  are  not.     Why  does  the  fire-engine  go  through 


WISE   HASTE.  145 

crowded  streets  at  such  a  pace  ?  Because  the  fire  is  burning 
at  such  a  pace.  Therefore  they  have  to  whip  the  horses 
into  a  gallop,  and  everything  has  to  get  out  of  the  way. 
*'See  that  ye  hasten  the  matter/'  for  the  other  side  hastens 
its  matters  with  a  vengeance — so  much  remains  to  be  done, 
and  the  evil  is  growing  so  fast ;  every  moment's  delay  adds 
so  enormously  to  its  power,  and  the  issues  at  stake  are  so 
tremendous,  and  the  Christian  life  which  is  slothful  and 
does  the  work  of  the  Lord  negligently  is  so  vapid,  un- 
interesting, and  wearisome  to  the  liver,  as  compared  with 
one  crowded  to  the  very  margin  with  work,  and  that  has 
no  time  for  unwholesome  brooding  and  melancholy  retro- 
spection, because  it  feels  that  so  much  is  crying  out  to  be 
done. 

I  need  not  remind  you  of  the  example  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  His  toilsome  life.  At  the  beginning  of  that  Gospel 
which  is  practically  the  Gospel  of  the  Servant,  the  words 
seem  to  hurry  one  after  another,  telling  the  swift  succession 
of  toils  and  services  in  which  He  engaged,  and  how,  like 
beneficent  flame,  He  leaped  from  one  cold,  dark  misery  to 
another,  bringing  to  each  swift  radiance  and  unwonted  fire 
of  joy.  Observe  those  "  immediatelys  "  and  "forthwiths" 
and  "  straight  ways  "  that  crowd  the  first  pages  of  Mark's 
Gospel.  And  let  us  take  the  lesson  taught  us  by  Him 
who  Himself  recognized  that,  even  in  His  great  work,  there 
was  need  for  diligence,  and  who  Himself  has  told  us  that 
He  shared  with  us  one  of  the  motives  for  hastening  the 
matter  which  we  might  have  thought  could  not  belong  to 
Him,  when  He  said,  "  I  must  work  the  works  of  Him  that 
sent  Me  while  it  is  called  day :  the  night  cometh,  when  no 
man  can  work."  The  night  for  Thee,  blessed  Lord  !  Is 
there  any  time  for  Thee,  O  Thou  Omnipotent  Christ,  when 

L — 2 


146  WISE   HASTE. 

Thou  canst  not  work?  Yes,  a  time  when,  the  conditions 
and  limitations  and  associations  of  earth  having  ceased,  it 
was  no  longer  possible  for  Him  to  manifest  the  human 
sympathy  which  He  delighted  to  give,  nor  to  alleviate  by 
the  touch  of  His  hand  the  ills  that  He  was  willing  to  bear. 
Even  that  thought,  that  so  little  time  is  left  us  to  do  so 
great  a  work,  Jesus  Christ  shared  with  us,  and  we  ought  to 
seek  to  share  it  with  Him. 

There  is  an  old  curse  in  the  Book  against  "the  men 
that  did  the  work  of  the  Lord  negligently,"  under  the  lash 
of  which  a  great  many  Christian  people  to-day  will  come. 
And  thete  is  an  old  description  in  one  of  the  prophets  of 
"  the  doers  of  evil,"  which  may  well  be  held  up  as  a  rebuke 
and  an  exhortation  to  us  in  our  poor  attempts  at  doing 
good.  We  are  told  that  they  did  it  "  with  both  hands 
earnestly."  Some  of  us  are  contented  to  do  good  with  one 
hand  slackly,  and  some  of  us  will  not  touch  the  burden 
''with  the  tip  of  one  of  our  fingers."  Shame,  that  in  a 
universe  in  which  unresting  motion  is  the  law  of  its  being, 
and  over  which  reigns  a  Father  who  worketh  hitherto,  and  a 
I-ord  who  works  with  His  servants,  and  in  which  the  powers 
of  evil  are  ever  active^  the  laggards  should  be  those  who 
profess  to  have  been  bought  with  an  inestimable  price,  and 
to  be  bound  by  the  strongest  and  tenderest  motives  to  a 
service  which  they  discharge  so  ill !  Be  not  slothful,  but 
work  while  it  is  called  day,  and  "see  that  ye  hasten  the 
matter." 


PHASES   OF   FAITH. 


PHASES  OF  FAITH. 

"Many  believed  on  Him.  Then  said  Jesus  to  those  Jews  which 
believed  on  Him  .  .  ." — ^John  viii.  30,  31. 

The  Revised  Version  accurately  represents  the  original 
by  varying  the  expression  in  these  two  clauses,  retaining 
"  believed  on  Him "  in  the  former,  and  substituting  the 
simple  "  believed  Him  "  in  the  latter.  The  variation  in  two 
contiguous  clauses  can  scarcely  be  accidental  in  so  careful 
a  writer  as  the  Apostle  John.  And  the  reason  and  meaning 
of  it  are  obvious  enough  on  the  face  of  the  narrative.  His 
purpose  is  to  distinguish  between  more  and  less  perfect 
acceptance  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  more  perfect  is  the 
former,  "  they  believed  on  Him  ; "  the  less  perfect  is  the 
latter,  the  simple  acceptance  of  His  word  on  His  claim  of 
Messiahship,  which  is  stigmatized  as  shallow,  and  proved 
to  be  transient  by  the  context. 

They  were  "  Jews  "  which  believed,  and  they  continued 
to  be  so  whilst  they  were  beheving.  Now,  the  word  "  Jew  " 
in  this  Gospel  always  connotes  antagonism  to  Jesus  Christ ; 
and  as  for  these  persons,  how  slight  and  unreliable  their 
adhesion  to  the  Lord  is,  comes  out  in  the  course  of  the 
next  few  verses ;  and  by  the  end  of  the  chapter  they  are 
taking  up  stones  to  stone  Him. 


150  PHASES  OF   FAITH. 

So  John  would  show  us  that  there  is  a  kind  of  accept- 
ance which  may  be  real,  and  may  be  the  basis  of  something 
much  better  hereafter,  but  which,  if  it  does  not  grow,  rots 
and  disappears;  and  he  would  draw  a  broad  line  of  dis- 
tinction between  that  and  the  other  mental  act,  far  deeper, 
more  wholesome,  more  lasting,  and  vital,  which  he  desig- 
nates as  ''believing  on  Him."  I  take  these  words,  then, 
for  consideration,  not  so  much  to  make  them  the  basis  of  my 
observations,  as  because  they  afford  me  a  starting-point  for  the 
consideration  of  the  various  phases  of  the  act  of  believing ; 
its  blessings  and  its  nature,  and  its  relation  to  its  objects, 
which  are  expressed  in  the  New  Testament  by  the  various 
connections  and  constructions  of  this  word. 

Now,  the  facts  with  which  I  wish  to  deal  may  be  very 
briefly  stated.  There  are  three  ways  in  which  the  New 
Testam.ent  represents  the  act  of  believing,  and  its  relation 
to  its  Object,  Christ.  These  three  are,  first,  the  simple  one 
which  appears  in  the  text  as  "  believed  Him."  Then  there 
is  a  second,  which  appears  in  two  forms,  slightly  different, 
but  which,  for  our  purpose,  may  be  treated  as  substantially 
the  same — "believing  on  Him."  And  then  there  is  a 
third,  which,  literally  and  accurately  translated,  is,  "  believing 
unto"  or  "into  Him."  That  phrase  is  John's  favourite 
one,  and  rather  unfortunately,  though  perhaps  necessarily, 
it  has  been  generally  rendered  by  our  translators  by  the  less 
forcible  "  believing  in,"  which  gives  the  idea  of  repose,  but 
does  not  give  the  idea  of  motion  towards.  These  three, 
then,  I  think,  do  set  forth,  if  we  will  ponder  them,  very 
large  lessons  as  to  the  essence  of  this  act  of  beHeving,  as 
to  the  Object  upon  which  it  fastens,  and  as  to  the  blessings 
which  flow  from  it,  which  it  will  be  worth  our  while  to 
consider   now.      I   may   cast   the   whole    into    the   shape 


PHASES  OF   FAITH.  151 

of  three  exhortations — beUeve  Him,  believ6  on  Him, 
behove  unto  Him. 

I.  First,  then,  beheve  Christ. 

We  accept  a  man's  words  when  we  trust  the  man. 
Even  if  behef,  or  faith,  is  represented  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, as  it  very  rarely  is,  as  having  for  its  object  the  words 
of  revelation,  behind  that  acceptance  of  the  words  lies 
confidence  in  the  person  speaking.  And  the  beginning 
of  all  true  Christian  faith  has  in  it,  not  merely  the  intel- 
lectual acceptance  of  certain  propositions  as  true,  but  a 
confidence  in  the  veracity  of  Him  by  whom  they  are  made 
known  to  us — even  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

I  do  not  need  to  insist  upon  that  at  any  length  here 
— it  would  take  me  away  from  my  present  purpose ;  but 
what  I  do  wish  to  emphasize  is,  that  from  the  very  starting- 
point,  the  smallest  germ  of  the  most  rudimentary  and 
imperfect  faith  which  knits  a  soul  to  Jesus  Christ  has 
Him  for  its  Object,  and  is  thus  distinguished  from  the 
mere  acceptance  of  truths  which,  on  other  grounds  than 
the  authority  of  the  speaker,  may  legitimately  commend 
themselves  to  a  man. 

Then  believe  Him.  Now,  that  breaks  up  into  two 
thoughts,  which  are  all  that  I  intend  to  deduce  from  it  now, 
although  many  more  might  be  suggested.  The  one  is 
this,  that  the  least  and  the  lowest  that  Jesus  Christ  asks 
from  us  is  the  entire  and  unhesitating  acceptance  of  His 
utterances  as  final,  conclusive,  and  absolutely  true.  What- 
ever more  Jesus  Christ  may  be.  He  is,  by  His  life  and  words, 
the  Communicator  of  Divine  and  certain  truth.  He  is  a 
Teacher,  though  He  is  a  great  deal  more.  And  whatever 
more  Christian  faith  may  be — and  it  is  a  great  deal  more — 
it  requires,  at  least,  the  frank  and  full  recognition  of  the 


152  PHASES   OF   FAITH. 

authority  of  every  word  that  comes  from  His  Hps.  A 
Christianity  without  a  creed  is  a  dream.  Bones  without 
flesh  are  very  dry,  no  doubt ;  but  what  about  flesh  without 
bones  ?  An  inert,  shapeless  mass.  You  will  never  have  a 
vigorous  and  true  Christian  life  if  it  is  to  be  moulded  accord- 
ing to  the  fantastic  dream  of  these  latter  days,  which  tells  us 
that  we  may  take  Jesus  as  the  Guide  of  our  conduct  and 
need  not  mind  about  what  He  says  to  us.  "  Believe  Me  "  is 
His  requirement.  The  words  of  His  mouth,  and  the  revela- 
tions which  He  has  made  in  the  sweetness  of  His  life,  and 
in  all  the  graciousness  of  His  dealings,  are  the  very  un- 
veiling to  man  of  absolute  and  final  and  certain  truth. 

But,  then,  on  the  other  hand,  let  us  remember  that, 
while  all  this  is  most  clear  and  distinct  in  the  teaching  of 
Scripture,  it  carries  us  but  a  very  short  way.  We  find,  in 
the  instance  from  which  we  take  our  starting-point  in  this 
sermon,  the  broad  distinction  drawn,  and  practically 
illustrated  in  the  conduct  of  the  persons  concerned, 
between  the  simple  acceptance  of  what  Christ  says,  and 
a  true  faith  that  clings  to  Him  for  evermore.  And  the 
same  kind  of  disparagement  of  the  lower  process  of 
merely  accepting  His  word  is  found  more  than  once  in 
connection  with  the  same  phrases.  We  find,  for  instance, 
the  two  which  are  connected  in  our  texts  used  in  a  previous 
conversation  between  our  Lord  and  His  antagonists.  When 
He  says  to  them,  "  This  is  the  work  of  God,  that  ye  believe 
on  Him  whom  He  hath  sent,"  they  reply,  dragging  down 
His  claim  to  a  lower  level,  "  What  sign  showest  Thou,  that 
we  may  see,  and  believe  Thee  ?  "  He  demanded  belief  on 
Himself;  they  answer,  "We  are  ready  to  believe  you,  on 
condition  that  we  see  something  that  may  make  the  render- 
ing of  our  belief  a  logical  necessity  for  us." 


PHASES   OF   FAITH,  153 

Let  us  lay  to  heart  the  rudimentary  and  incomplete 
character  of  a  faith  which  simply  accepts  the  teaching  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  does  no  more.  The  notion  that  orthodoxy 
is  Christianity,  that  a  man  who  does  not  contradict  the 
teaching  of  the  New  Testament  is  thereby  a  Christian, 
is  a  very  old  and  very  perilous  and  very  widespread  one. 
There  are  plenty  of  us  who  have  no  better  claim  to  be 
called  Christians  than  this,  that  we  never  denied  any- 
thing that  Jesus  Christ  said,  though  we  are  not  sufficiently 
interested  in  it,  I  was  going  to  say,  even  to  deny  it. 
This  rudimentary  faith,  which  contents  itself  with  the 
acceptance  of  the  truth  revealed,  hardens  into  mere  formal- 
ism, or  liquefies  into  mere  careless  indifference  as  to  the 
very  truth  that  it  professes  to  believe.  There  is  nothing 
more  impotent  than  creeds  which  lie  dormant  in  our 
brains,  and  have  no  influence  upon  our  lives.  I  wonder 
how  many  readers  of  this  sermon,  who  fancy  themselves 
good  Christians,  do  with  their  creed  as  the  Japanese  used 
to  do  with  their  emperor — keep  him  in  a  palace  behind 
bamboo  screens,  and  never  let  him  do  anything,  whilst  all 
the  reality  of  power  was  possessed  by  another  man,  who 
did  not  profess  to  be  a  king  at  all.  Do  you  think  you  are 
Christians  because  you  would  sign  thirty-nine  or  three 
hundred  and  ninety  articles  of  Christianity,  if  they  were 
offered  to  you,  while  there  is  not  one  of  them  that  influences 
either  your  thinking  or  your  conduct  ?  Do  not  let  us  have 
these  "  sluggish  kings,"  with  a  mayor  of  the  palace  to  do 
the  real  government,  but  set  on  the  throne  of  your  hearts 
the  principles  of  your  religion,  and  see  to  it  that  all  your 
convictions  be  translated  into  practice,  and  all  your  prac- 
tice be  informed  by  your  convictions. 

This  belief  in  a  set  of  dogmas,  on  the  authority  of  Jesus 


154  PHASES  OF   FAITH. 

Christ,  about  which  dogmas  we  do  not  care  a  rush,  and 
which  make  no  difference  upon  our  Uves,  is  the  faith  that 
James  has  so  many  hard  things  to  say  about ;  and  he 
ventures  upon  a  parallel  that  I  should  not  like  to  venture 
on  unless  I  were  made  bold  by  his  example  :  "  Thou  be- 
lievest,  O  vain  man;  thou  doest  well :  the  devils  also  believe, 
and" — better  than  you,  in  that  their  belief  does  something 
for  them  they — "  believe,  and  tremble."  But  what  shall  we 
say  about  a  man  who  professes  himself  a  disciple,  and 
neither  trembles,  nor  thrills,  nor  hopes,  nor  dreads,  nor 
desires,  nor  does  any  single  thing  because  of  his  creed  ? 
Believe  Jesus,  but  do  not  stop  there. 

II.  Believe  on  Christ. 

Now,  as  I  have  remarked  already,  and  as  many  of  you 
know,  there  is  a  slightly  different,  twofold  form  of  this 
phrase  in  Scripture.  I  need  not  trouble  you  with  the 
minute  distinction  between  the  one  and  the  other.  Both 
forms  coincide  in  the  important  point  on  which  I  wish  to 
touch.  That  representation  of  believing  on  Christ  carries 
us  away  at  once  from  the  mere  act  of  acceptance  of  His 
word  on  His  authority  to  the  far  more  manifestly  voluntary, 
moral,  and  personal  act  of  reliance  upon  Him.  The  meta- 
phor is  expanded  in  various  ways  in  Scripture,  and  instead 
of  offering  any  thoughts  of  my  own  about  it,  I  would  simply 
ask  attention  to  three  of  the  forms  in  which  it  is  set  forth 
in  the  Old  and  in  the  New  Testaments. 

The  first  of  them,  and  the  one  which  we  may  regard  as 
governing  the  others,  is  that  in  the  book  of  the  Prophet 
Isaiah,  "  Behold,  I  lay  in  Zion  a  Stone,  a  sure  Foundation ; " 
and,  as  the  Apostle  Peter  comments,  "  He  that  believeth  on 
Him  shall  not  be  confounded."  There  the  figure  presented 
is  the  superposition  of  the  building  upon  its  Foundation,  the 


PHASES   OF   FAITH.  155 

rest  of  the  soul,  and  the  rearing  of  ^the  life  on  the  basis  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

How  much  that  metaphor  says  to  us  about  Him,  as 
the  Foundation,  in  all  the  aspects  in  which  we  can  apply 
that  term !  He  is  the  Basis  of  our  hope,  the  Guarantee 
of  our  security,  the  Foundation-stone  of  our  beliefs,  the  very 
Ground  on  which  our  whole  life  reposes,  the  Source  of  our 
tranquillity,  the  Pledge  of  our  peace.  All  that  I  think,  feel, 
desire,  wish,  and  do,  ought  to  be  rested  upon  that  dear  Lord, 
and  builded  there  by  simple  faith.  By  patient  persist- 
ence of  effort  rearing  up  the  fabric  of  my  life  firmly  upon 
Him,  and  grafting  every  stone  of  it — if  I  might  so  use  the 
metaphor — into  the  bedding-stone,  which  is  Christ,  I  shall 
be  strong,  peaceful,  and  pure. 

The  storm  comes,  the  waters  rise,  the  winds  howl,  the 
hail  and  the  rain  "sweep  away  the  refuge  of  lies,"  and  the 
dwellers  in  these  frail  and  foundationless  houses  are  hurry- 
ing in  wild  confusion  from  one  peak  to  another,  before  the 
steadily  rising  tide.  But  he  that  builds  on  that  Foundation 
"shall  not  make  haste,"  as  Isaiah  has  it;  shall  not  need  to 
hurry  to  shift  his  quarters  before  the  flood  overtake  him  ; 
shall  look  out  serene  upon  all  the  hurtling  fury  of  the 
wild  storm,  and  the  rise  of  the  sullen  waters.  So,  reliance 
on  Christ,  and  the  honest  making  of  Him  the  Basis,  not  of 
our  hopes  only,  but  of  our  thinkings  and  of  our  doings,  and 
of  our  whole  being,  is  the  secret  of  security,  and  the  pledge 
of  peace. 

Then  there  is  another  form  of  the  same  phrase,  "  believ- 
ing on,"  in  which  is  suggested  not  so  much  the  figure  of 
building  upon  a  foundation,  as  of  some  feeble  man  resting 
upon  a  strong  stay,  or  clinging  to  an  outstretched  and 
mighty  arm.     The  same  metaphor  is  implied  in  the  word 


156  PHASES   OF   FAITH. 

"reliance."  We  lean  upon  Christ  when,  forsaking  all  other 
props,  and  realizing  His  sufficiency  and  sweetness,  we  rest 
the  whole  weight  of  our  weariness  and  all  the  impotence  of 
our  weakness  upon  His  strong  and  unwearied  arm,  and  so 
are  saved.  All  other  stays  are  like  that  one  to  which  the 
prophet  compares  the  King  of  Egypt — the  papyrus  reed  in 
the  Nile  stream,  on  which,  if  a  man  leans,  it  will  break  into 
splinters  which  will  go  into  his  flesh,  and  make  a  poisoned 
wound.  But  if  we  lean  on  Christ,  we  lean  on  a  brazen  wall 
and  an  iron  pillar,  and  anything  is  possible  sooner  than  that 
that  stay  shall  give. 

There  is  still  another  form  of  the  metaphor,  in  which 
neither  building  upon  a  foundation,  nor  leaning  upon  a 
support  which  is  thought  of  as  below  what  rests  upon  it,  is 
suggested,  but  rather  the  hanging  upon  something  firm  and 
secure  which  is  above  what  hangs  from  it.  The  same 
picture  is  suggested  by  our  word  "  dependence."  "  As  a  nail 
fastened  in  a  sure  place,"  said  one  of  the  prophets,  "  on 
Him  shall  hang  all  the  glory  of  His  Father's  house." 

*'  Hangs  my  helpless  soul  on  Thee," 

The  rope  lowered  over  the  clifls  supports  the  adventurous 
bird-nester  in  safety  above  the  murmuring  sea.  They 
who  clasp  Christ's  hand  outstretched  from  above,  may 
swing  over  the  deepest,  most  vacuous  abyss,  and  fear 
no  fall. 

So,  brother,  build  on  Christ,  rely  on  Him,  depend  on 
Him,  and  it  shall  not  be  in  vain.  But  if  you  will  not  build 
on  the  sure  Foundation,  do  not  wonder  if  the  rotten  one  gives 
way.  If  you  will  not  lean  on  the  strong  Stay,  complain  not 
when  the  weak  one  crumbles  to  dust  beneath  your  weight. 
And  if  you  choose  to  swing  over  the  profound  depth  at  the 


PHASES   OF   FAITH.  15/ 

end  of  a  piece  of  pack-thread,  instead  of  holding  on  by  an 
adamantine  chain  wrapped  round  God's  throne,  you  must 
be  prepared  for  its  breaking  and  your  being  smashed  to 
pieces  below. 

III.  The  last  exhortation  that  comes  out  of  this  com- 
parative study  of  these  phrases  is — Believe  into  Christ. 

That  is  a  very  pregnant  and  remarkable  expression,  and 
it  can  scarcely,  as  you  see,  be  rendered  into  our  language 
without  a  certain  harshness ;  but  still  it  is  worth  while  to  face 
the  harshness  for  the  sake  of  getting  the  double  signification 
that  is  involved  in  it.  For  when  we  speak  of  "  believing 
iinto  or  into  Him,"  we  suggest  two  things,  both  of  which, 
apparently,  were  in  the  minds  of  the  writers  of  the  New 
Testament.  One  is  motion  towards,  and  the  other  is  repose 
in,  that  dear  Lord. 

So,  then,  true  Christian  faith  is  the  flight  of  the  soul 
towards  Christ.  Therein  is  one  of  the  special  blessednesses 
of  the  Christian  life,  that  it  has  for  its  object  and  aim 
absolutely  infinite  and  unattainable  completeness  and  glory, 
so  that  unwearied  freshness,  inexhaustible  buoyancy,  end- 
less progress,  are  the  dower  of  every  spirit  that  truly  trusts 
in  Christ.  All  other  aims  and  objects  are  limited,  transient, 
and  will  be  left  behind.  Every  other  landmark  will  sink 
beneath  the  horizon,  where  so  many  of  our  landmarks  have 
sunk  already,  and  where  they  will  all  disappear  when  the 
last  moment  comes.  But  we  may  have,  and  if  we  are 
Christian  people  we  shall  have,  borne  before  us,  sufficiently 
certain  of  being  reached  to  make  our  efforts  hopeful  and 
confident,  sufficiently  certain  of  never  being  reached  to 
make  our  efforts  blessed  with  endless  aspirations,  the  great 
light  and  love  of  that  dear  Lord,  to  yearn  after  whom  is 
better  than  to  possess  all  besides,  and  following  hard  after 


158  PHASES  OF  FAITH. 

whom,  even  in  the  very  motion  there  is  rest,  and  in  the 
search  there  is  finding.  Religion  is  the  flight  of  the  soul, 
the  aspiration  of  the  whole  man  after  the  unattainable  Attain- 
able— "that  I  may  know  Him,  and  be  found  in  Him." 

Oh,  how  such  thoughts  ought  to  shame  us  who  call 
ourselves  Christians  !  Growth,  progress,  getting  nearer  to 
Christ,  yearning  ever  with  a  great  desire  after  Him  ! — do  not 
the  words  seem  irony  when  applied  to  most  of  us  ?  Think 
of  the  average  type  of  sluggish  contentment  with  present 
attainments  that  marks  Christian  people  ;  tortoises  in  their 
crawling  rather  than  eagles  in  their  flight. 

And  let  us  take  our  portion  of  shame,  and  remember 
that  the  faith  which  believes  Him,  and  that  which  believes 
on  Him,  both  need  to  be  crowned  and  perfected  by  that 
which  believes  towards  Him ;  of  which  the  motto  is, 
"Forgetting  the  things  that  are  behind,  I  reach  forward  to 
the  things  that  are  before." 

But  there  is  another  side  to  this  last  phase  of  faith. 
That  true  believing  towards  or  unto  Christ  is  the  rest  of 
the  soul  in  Him.  By  faith  that  deep  and  most  real  union 
of  the  believing  soul  with  Jesus  Christ  is  effected  which 
may  be  fitly  described  as  our  entrance  into  and  abode  in 
Him.  The  believer  is  as  if  incorporated  into  Him  in  whom 
he  believes.  Indeed,  the  apostle  ventures  to  use  a  more 
startling  expression  than  incorporation  when  he  says  that 
"he  that  is  joined  to  the  Lord  is  one  Spirit."  If  by  faith 
we  press  towards,  by  faith  we  shall  be  in  Christ.  Faith  is 
at  once  motion  and  rest,  search  and  finding,  desire  and 
fruition.  The  felicity  of  this  last  form  of  speech  is  its 
expression  of  both  these  ideas,  which  are  united  in  fact  as 
in  word.  A  rare  construction  of  the  verb  to  believe,  with 
the  simple  preposition  ///,  coincides  with  this  part  of  the 


PHASES  OF  FAITH.  159 

meaning  oi  believing  unto  or  into,  and  need  not  be  separately 
considered. 

With  this  understanding  of  its  meaning,  we  see  how 
natural  is  John's  preference  for  this  construction.  For 
surely,  if  he  has  anything  to  tell  us,  it  is  that  the  true 
Christian  life  is  a  life  enclosed,  as  it  were,  in  Jesus  Christ. 
Nor  need  I  remind  you  how  Paul,  though  he  starts  from  a 
different  point  of  view,  yet  coincides  with  John  in  this 
teaching.  For,  to  him,  to  be  "  in  Christ "  is  the  sum  of  all 
blessedness,  righteousness,  peace,  and  power.  As  in  an 
atmosphere,  we  may  dwell  in  Him.  He  may  be  the  strong 
Habitation  to  which  we  may  continually  resort.  One  of  the 
Old  Testament  words  for  trusting  means  taking  refuge, 
and  such  a  thought  is  naturally  suggested  by  this  New 
Testament  form  of  expression.  "  I  flee  unto  Thee  to  hide 
me."     In  that  Fortress  we  dwell  secure. 

To  be  in  Jesus,  wedded  to  Him  by  the  conjunction 
of  will  and  desire,  wedded  to  Him  in  the  oneness  of  a 
believing  spirit  and  in  the  obedience  of  a  Ufe,  to  be  thus 
in  Christ  is  the  crown  and  climax  of  faith,  and  the  con- 
dition of  all  perfection.  To  be  in  Christ  is  life  ;  to  be  out 
of  Him  is  death.  In  Him  we  have  redemption  ;  in  Him  we 
have  wisdom,  truth,  peace,  righteousness,  hope,  confidence. 
To  be  in  Him  is  to  be  in  heaven.  We  enter  by  faith. 
Faith  is  not  the  acceptance  merely  of  His  Word,  but  is  the 
reliance  of  the  soul  on  Him,  the  flight  of  the  soul  towards 
Him,  the  dwelling  of  the  soul  in  Him.  "  Come,  My  people, 
into  thy  chambers,  and  shut  thy  doors  about  thee  .  .  .  until 
the  indignation  be  overpast." 


TENT  AND   ALTAR. 


M  —  2 


TENT  AND  ALTAR. 

"  Abram  pitched  his  tent,  .  .  .  and  there  he  builded  an  altar.'' — 
Gen.  xii.  8. 

Entering  the  land  of  Canaan  from  the  north,  as  an 
emigrant  from  Harran  would  do,  Abram  and  his  company 
passed  southwards,  through  the  possessions  of  a  civilized 
and  settled  race,  till  they  reached  the  fertile  country  round 
Shechem,  and  there,  in  a  place  the  luxuriant  beauty  of 
which  would  excite  the  wanderer's  desire  to  call  it  his,  as 
much  as  the  tokens  on  every  side  of  an  established  order 
would  shake  his  confidence  in  his  power  to  win  it,  the 
Divine  promise  was  renewed.  God  chooses  the  right  scenes 
and  times  for  His  appearances,  and  the  very  fact  that  Abram 
again  received  the  promise  of  the  land  at  the  "  terebinth  of 
Moreh"  implies  that  he  then  specially  needed  it.  The 
reason  for  the  gracious  repetition  is  told  us :  "  And  the 
Canaanite  was  then  in  the  land."  Abram  was  brought  into 
contact  with  the  fierce  strength  which  had  to  be  met  and 
crushed  before  the  land  could  be  his,  and  no  doubt  he 
quailed  at  the  prospect.  Therefore  "the  Lord  appeared 
unto  Abram,  and  said.  Unto  thy  seed  will  I  give  the  land." 
The  reiterated  assurance  and  the  distant  date  assigned  for 
its  fulfilment  would  strengthen  his  faith  and  lessen  his  fears. 
Therefore  with  lightened  heart,  absolved  from  conflict  with 


164  TENT  AND  ALTAR. 

the  Canaanites  by  the  terms  of  the  promise  designating 
future  generations  as  the  conquerors,  he  reared  an  altar 
beside  the  sacred  tree,  to  "  Jehovah  who  appeared  unto 
him."  Quickened  faith  thankfully  commemorates  God's 
tender  fostering  of  tremulous  faith. 

But  Shechem  was  not  to  be  his  goal.  In  this  first 
journey  Abram  seems  to  intend  a  survey  of  the  whole 
territory,  and  therefore  he  passed  on  still  southwards  towards 
what  was  afterwards  to  be  called  Bethel,  and  to  bear  a  name 
sacred  and  dear  in  all  centuries  and  countries.  On  the 
stony  hillside  to  the  east  of  Bethel,  a  stern  contrast  to  the 
smiling  fertility  of  Shechem,  he  stayed  for  a  time,  a  tem- 
porary encampment  there  being  probably  less  likely  to  be 
disputed  than  in  the  better  place,  and  there  once  more  he 
pitched  his  tent,  and  once  more  built  an  altar — whether  for 
sacrifice,  or  like  that  at  his  previous  station,  simply  as  a 
memorial  and  declaration  of  his  faith,  does  not  appear. 
It  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to  note  the  combination  of 
these  two  acts,  by  which  Abram  inaugurated  his  first  halt- 
ing-place for  any  lengthened  stay,  and  as  it  were  took 
possession  of  the  land  for  himself  and  for  Jehovah.  The 
combination  may  suggest  some  useful  lessons. 

I.  All  life  should  blend  the  earthly  and  the  heavenly. 
As  soon  as  the  tent  is  pitched,  and  the  necessities  of 
bodily  life  in  some  measure  satisfied,  the  next  thing  is  the 
altar  of  God. 

Religion  is  meant  to  run  through  the  whole  of  common 
life,  not  to  be  crowded  and  clotted  in  corners,  leaving  the 
rest  of  our  days  empty  and  unblessed  by  it.  It  is  all  very 
well  to  pray  and  praise  and  preach  on  Sundays;  what 
about  Saturday  and  Monday?  It  is  all  very  well  to  call 
ourselves  Christians,   and   to   profess   to  belong  to   some 


TENT  AND  ALTAR.  165 

ecclesiastical  body  or  other ;  what  about  the  daily  life  ?  Is 
my  prayer  only  a  matter  of  fixed  times  and  perhaps  formal 
words,  or  are  all  my  days  devotion  ?  Abram  twined  these 
two  aspects  of  life  in  most  intimate  union,  not  only  in  this 
instance  but  habitually  ;  and  therein  is  an  example  for  us, 
who  are  so  far  in  advance  of  him  as  regards  the  objects 
of  our  religion.  He  did  not  know  nearly  as  much  about 
God  as  we  do ;  he  was  not  as  favoured  with  teaching  of 
the  lofty  and  spiritual  side  of  religion  as  we  are.  His  faith 
was  very  imperfect  as  far  as  its  contents  are  concerned, 
but  it  had  a  penetrative  and  diffusive  power  in  it ;  perhaps 
to  some  extent  owing  to  its  less  transcendent  and  lofty 
character,  which  may  well  shame  us,  who,  with  a  fuller 
knowledge,  and  the  material  for  a  loftier  and  more  all- 
pervasive  faith,  manage  to  make  such  ghastly  separation 
between  the  two  halves  of  the  devout  life,  and  keep  the 
heavenly  and  its  principles  so  widely  apart  from  the  earthly 
and  its  practices.  There  is  no  sanity,  nor  sweetness, 
nor  nobleness  in  earthly  life,  unless  through  and  through, 
as  light  is  flashed  into  some  dull,  dense,  watery  cloud,  it  be 
shot  and  interpenetrated  with  the  light  of  the  mighty  and 
ennobling  principles  that  flow  from  the  gospel ;  and  no 
religion  is  worth  being  called  so,  nor  has  it  any  pith  of 
reality  in  it,  unless  it  has  force  to  press  into  the  most  close- 
grained  solids  and  most  minute  trifles,  and  into  them  to 
infuse  its  hallowing  and  ennobling  spirit,  working  like  lifting 
leaven  on  lumpish  dough.  By  the  side  of  every  tent  in 
which  we  dwell  we  should  raise  an  altar  to  God. 

To-day,  millenniums  after  this  man  lived,  and  amongst 
people  who  do  not  share  either  his  faith  or  ours,  namely, 
the  Mohammedan  populations  of  the  East,  the  name  for 
Abraham  is  "the   Friend" — the   Fiiend   of  God,   that  is. 


1 66  TENT   AND  ALTAR. 

The  expression  is  borrowed  from  Scripture.  Whatever 
besides  that  name  may  express,  this  at  all  events  is 
distinctly  set  forth  by  it,  that  the  salient  characteristics  of 
the  patriarch's  life  was  close  and  habitual  intimacy  with 
God.  That  communion  did  not  interfere  with  the  whole- 
hearted discharge  of  common  duties,  the  simple  enjoyment 
of  common  blessings,  or  the  heroic  readiness  to  rise  to 
difficult  heights  of  uncommon  sacrifice  or  effort.  Like  all 
the  Old  Testament  ''saints,"  he  came  "  eating  and  drink- 
ing," marrying  and  giving  in  marriage,  buying  and  selling 
and  getting  gain,  and  practising  in  all  a  wholesome  religion 
which  sought  for  no  solitary,  supercilious,  or  selfish  sepa- 
rateness,  but 

"Travelled  on  life's  common  way 
In  cheerful  godliness," 

filling  all  occupations  and  circumstances  with  a  new  spirit, 
and  so  finding  in  things  of  smallest  worth  materials  for  a 
sacrifice  more  costly  than  much  fine  gold.  The  fact  that 
he  and  all  these  Old  Testament  "  saints "  were  "  men  of 
affairs,"  and  not  recluses,  and  that  their  religion  did  not 
impel  them  to  a  new  mode  of  life,  but  to  a  new  way  of 
doing  the  old  things,  may  well  teach  us  how  close  the 
blending  of  our  religious  and  our  common  life  should  be. 

But  not  only  do  Abraham  and  the  men  of  faith,  who 
lived  by  faith  before  it  had  a  historical  Christ  to  grasp,  read 
us  this  lesson.  The  worshippers  of  less  pure  gods  do  so 
too.  It  is  not  often  that  one  finds  a  Christian  as  little 
ashamed  of  practising  his  religion  and  presenting  his 
worship  before  unsympathizing  onlookers  as  Turks  or 
idolaters  are.  True,  the  very  fact  that  to  them  religion  is 
so  much  a  matter  of  external  observance  makes  it  easier  for 
them  to  practise  the  external  observances  in  any  circum- 


TENT  AND   ALTAR.  167 

stances.  But,  making  all  allowance  for  that,  I  venture  to 
say  that  there  is  not  a  false  faith  on  the  face  of  the  earth 
which  does  not  preach  a  lesson  and  administer  a  rebuke  to 
us  Christian  people  in  regard  of  this  one  matter,  the  way  in 
which  religion  and  life — a  very  poor  religion,  no  doubt,  and 
a  very  imperfect  life — touch  each  other  at  all  points ;  and 
because  they  thus  touch,  are  really  one. 

Does  our  better  religion  so  interpenetrate  our  lives? 
Have  we  this  same  experience  of  making  every  act  worship, 
and  of  carrying  the  motives  and  strengths  drawn  from  our 
gospel  into  every  corner  of  our  daily  life.  Go  back  in 
thought  over  to-day.  Can  you  lay  your  finger  upon  a  single 
act  that  you  have  done  to-day  which  would  have  been  done 
differently  if  you  had  not  believed  that  Jesus  Christ  loved 
you  ?  Can  you  lay  your  finger  upon  any  inclination  that 
you  have  abstained  from  gratifying  because  you  knew  that 
loyalty  to  Him  forbade  your  yielding  ?  I  hope  the  answer  is 
not  in  the  negative  universally;  but  oh,  how  faint,  how 
few,  scattered  through  our  lives  like  points,  or  as  stars 
thinly  sown  in  the  vacant  regions  of  the  sky,  are  the 
moments  and  the  acts  in  which  we  have  lived  like  Christians, 
and  carried  our  religion  into  our  shops  and  commerce,  and 
our  studies  and  our  daily  duties  ! 

Let  us  take  the  pattern  from  Abram,  who  "  pitched  his 
tent,  and  builded  an  altar." 

H.  Another  lesson  may  be  suggested.  The  family  should 
be  a  Church. 

In  the  old  patriarchal  times,  before  priesthood  had 
attained  to  any  development,  the  head  of  the  family  or 
clan,  the  patriarch,  was  priest.  Abram  built  the  altar,  and 
Abram  offered  the  sacrifice.  In  the  New  Testament  we 
find  a  number — relatively  a  large  number,  and  absolutely 


l68  TENT  AND  ALTAR. 

a  considerable  number,  of  households — all  the  members  of 
which  were  Christians.  We  read,  too,  of  more  than  one 
instance  in  the  house  of  some  Christian,  which  expression 
must  at  least  include  the  idea  of  domestic  worship  and 
household  religion,  whether  other  Christians  than  those  of 
the  family  belonged  to  that  "  Church  "  or  no.  In  days  not 
beyond  the  memories — the  thankful  memories — of  some  of 
us,  it  was  understood  that  a  Christian  household  was  one  in 
which  the  father  and  mother  taught  their  children.  It  was 
considered,  too,  that  it  meant  a  household  in  which  there 
was  family  worship. 

Now  although  I  do  not  know,  and  therefore  will  not 
take  upon  me  to  affirm,  I  do  shrewdly  suspect  and  therefore 
venture  to  ask,  whether  these  things  are  so  now  as  generally 
as  they  once  were.  I  wonder  how  many  households  in  our 
class  of  Christian  society  there  are,  in  which  father  and 
mother  think  that  they  have  done  their  duty  to  their 
children  when  they  have  sent  them  to  the  Sunday  school, 
while  they  are  idle  at  home  ;  and  I  wonder  how  many  there 
are  who  never  open  their  lips  in  their  houses,  as  leading 
the  devotions  of  their  family.  Suffer  the  word  of  exhorta- 
tion. I  believe  that  one  reason  why  some  aspects  of 
religious  life  are  dark  and  unpromising  at  this  time  is  the 
decay  of  family  religion  as  expressed  in  family  worship  and 
family  instruction  in  the  households  of  professing  Christians. 
"  Abram  pitched  his  tent,  and  builded  an  altar." 

III.  Further,  let  me  ask  you  to  note  here  the  illustra- 
tion of  another  thought.     God  should  get  our  best. 

A  black  camel's-hair  tent,  with  a  couple  of  sticks  at  either 
end  of  it  to  hold  up  the  roof,  and  a  peg  or  two  in  the 
ground  to  fasten  the  ropes  to,  was  neither  expensive  nor 
difficult  to  set  up.     Ten  minutes  would  do  that.     That  was 


TENT  AND  ALTAR.  169 

quite  enough  for  Abram.  But  he  gathered  the  great  stones 
of  the  place  together,  and  built  the  altar.  As  for  the  tent,  it 
is  sufficient  that  it  be  pitched  anywhere,  with  little  expendi- 
ture of  time  and  trouble.  It  is  to  come  down  to-morrow, 
and  while  it  stands  its  purpose  is  only  the  shelter  of  myself. 
But  as  for  the  altar,  with  toil  and  strain  of  muscle,  and  many 
a  deep  breath  and  drop  of  sweat  from  the  brow,  roll  the 
great  stones  together,  and  lay  them  true,  without  trace  of 
tool  on  them,  but  majestic  in  simplicity,  to  witness  to  the 
massive  solidity  of  the  faith  which  reared  them,  and  the 
unadorned,  uncontaminated  purity  of  the  revelation  of  the 
God  for  whose  worship  they  were  laid. 

"  Lo !  I  dwell  within  cedar,  and  the  ark  of  the  Lord 
dwells  within  curtains,"  said  David.  Whose  fault  was  that, 
David  ?  Did  you  not  build  the  house  of  cedar  before  you 
thought  about  a  house  for  God  ?  We  do  the  opposite  of 
what  Abram  did.  Most  of  us  build  our  own  houses,  and, 
if  there  are  any  stones  left  over,  are  good  enough  to  spare 
them  for  building  some  altar  to  God.  We  give  Him  the 
superfluities.  We  allow  Him  the  second  place,  thinking 
about  self  first ;  and  so  losing  all  the  blessings  of  thorough 
consecration  and  noble  surrender,  and  of  yielding  up  what 
is  highest  to  Him  who  is  the  Highest.  Give  God  the  best 
— that  is  the  minimum  of  duty ;  for  unless  we  do,  we  give 
Him  nothing. 

"  Give  all  thou  canst  ! 
High  Heaven  rejects  the  lore 
Of  nicely  calculated  less  or  more." 

Do  not  think  that  anything  of  your  own  is  worthy  of  as 
sedulous  care,  as  generous  bestowment,  as  intense  effort,  as 
thorough  devotion,  as  is  the  service  of  the  Lord.  I  do  not 
mean  in  material  things  only,  because  the  true  wealth  of  a 


I/O  TENT  AND   ALTAR. 

man  is  not  the  abundance  of  the  things  that  he  possesses, 
and  that  best  which  we  are  to  give  to  God  is  not  merely 
the  best  portion  of  the  things  that  belong  to  us,  but  the 
best  devotion  of  our  hearts — their  best  affections ;  the 
strongest  resolve  of  obedient  wills,  the  intensest  desire  of 
aspiring  spirits,  the  fullest  consecration  of  surrendered  lives, 
the  firmest  confidence  of  reliant,  and  therefore  loving  and 
obedient  hearts.  Give  God  the  superiorities  of  your  nature, 
whatever  you  keep  for  yourselves ;  and  try  so  to  blend  the 
motive  of  devotion  to  Him  with  all  action  of  heart  and  mind, 
as  that  there  shall  be  nothing  retained  from  Him  to  whom 
the  best  is  consciously  given. 

IV.  Lastly,  this  incident  may  suggest  to  us  how  build- 
ing for  God  lasts,  while  building  for  ourselves  perishes. 

The  tent  has  disappeared ;  the  altar  remains.  I  dare  say 
these  stones  half-way  between  Bethel  and  Ai  are  there  still, 
standing  where  and  as  Abram  piled  them,  though  hard  to 
find,  and  impossible  to  identify  amid  the  rocks  and  ruins 
that  strew  the  face  of  the  land  around.  What  has  become 
of  his  tent?  It  was  pitched  for  a  little  while.  In  his 
nomad  life  it  was  struck  soon,  and  no  trace  remained  but  a 
little  heap  of  rubbish,  and  a  circle  of  charred  ashes  where 
the  fire  had  glinted  cheerily  for  a  day  or  two.  All  was 
gone  but  the  altar.  In  the  great  cities  of  antiquity  which 
the  spade  is  now  laying  bare  for  us,  what  has  become  of 
the  houses  which  the  people  built  for  themselves  ?  Gone — 
where  the  snow  and  the  rain  of  the  years  when  they  were 
built  have  gone.  It  is  the  temples  that  are  left,  in  the 
marsh  which  is  now  where  Ephesus  once  was;  in  the 
desolation  which  is  now  where  Babylon  once  was ;  beneath 
the  mounds  which  are  now  where  Heliopolis  once  was.  The 
houses  of  the  people  are   gone ;  the  temples  of  the  gods 


TENT  AND   ALTAR.  171 

remain.  Which  things  are  an  allegory.  *'  He  thatsoweth  to 
the  flesh  shall  of  the  flesh  reap,"  and  of  selfish  lives  there 
will  be  nothing  left  but  a  foul  flavour  and  a  bad  memory. 
"The  world  passe th  away,  and  the  fashion  thereof:  he  that 
doeth  the  will  of  God  shall  abide  for  ever."  It  was 
Abraham's  religion  that  made  him  dwell  in  tents.  He 
came  from  a  settled  civilization,  where  there  were  cities, 
as  we  can  see  in  the  narratives.  He  came  into  a  settled 
civilization,  where  there  was  city  life,  and  plenty  of  stone 
houses  if  he  had  chosen  to  go  into  them.  "  He  dwelt  in 
tabernacles ;  for  he  looked  for  the  city  which  hath  the 
foundations,  whose  Builder  and  Maker  is  God."  If  we  in 
like  manner  have  come  to  fix  and  anchor  our  lives  on  the 
only  permanent,  and  to  feel  ourselves  parts  of  that  great 
order  which  lives  beyond  the  grave  and  above  the  stars, 
we  shall  be  penetrated  with  a  sense  of  the  transiency  of  all 
things  here  below,  and  so  be  well  contented  to  pitch  but  a 
moving  tent  for  ourselves,  if  we  can,  by  God's  grace,  lay 
were  it  even  one  stone  in  the  temple  which,  through  all 
the  ages,  is  rising,  on  the  one  Foundation,  unto  Him. 


THE  FORGIVING   SON  OF  MAN. 


THE  FORGIVING  SON  OF 

MAN. 

*'  That  ye  may  know  that  the  Son  of  man  hath  power  on  earth  to 
forgive  sins,  (then  saith  He  to  the  sick  of  tlie  palsy,)  Arise,  take  up  thy 
bed,  and  go  unto  thine  house." — Matt.  ix.  6. 

The  great  example  of  our  Lord's  teaching,  which  we  call 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  is  followed  in  this  and  the  pre- 
ceding chapter  by  a  similar  collection  of  His  works.  These 
are  arranged  by  the  evangelist  with  some  care  in  three 
groups,  each  consisting  of  three  miracles,  and  separated 
from  each  other  by  other  matter.  The  miracle  to  which 
our  text  refers  is  the  last  member  of  the  second  triad,  of 
which  the  others  are  the  stilling  of  the  tempest  and  the 
casting  out  of  demons  from  the  two  men  in  the  country  of 
the  Gadarenes. 

One  can  discern  a  certain  likeness  in  these  three  inci- 
dents. In  all  of  them  our  Lord  appears  as  the  Peace- 
bringer.  But  the  spheres  in  which  He  works  are  different 
in  each.  The  calm  which  was  breathed  over  the  stormy 
lake  was  peace,  but  of  a  lower  kind  than  that  which  filled 
the  souls  of  the  demoniacs  when  the  power  that  agitated 
them  and  made  discord  within  had  been  cast  out.  Even 
that  peace  was  lower  in  kind  than  that  which  brought 
repose  by  assurance  of  pardon  to  this  poor  paralytic.  For- 
giveness is  a  loftier   blessing   than   even   the   casting   out 


176  THE   FORGIVING   SON   OF   MAN. 

of  demons.  The  manifestation  of  power  and  love  rises 
steadily  to  a  climax. 

The  text  subordinates  the  mere  miracle  to  the  authori- 
tative assurance  of  pardon,  and  thus  teaches  us  that  the 
most  important  part  of  the  incident  is  not  the  healing  of 
disease,  but  the  accompanying  forgiveness  of  sins.  Here  we 
have  noteworthy  instruction  given  by  our  Lord  Himself  as 
to  the  relation  between  His  miracles  and  that  perpetual 
work  of  His,  which  He  is  doing  through  the  ages  and  to- 
day, and  will  do  for  us,  if  we  will  let  Him.  It  towers  high 
above  the  miracle,  and  the  miracle  is  honoured  by  being  its 
attestation.  We  deal,  then,  with  this  narrative  as  suggesting 
great  principles  over  and  above  the  miraculous  fact. 

I.  Man's  deepest  need  is  forgiveness. 

How  strangely  irrelevant  and  wide  of  the  mark  seems 
Christ's  response  to  the  eager  zeal  of  the  bearers  and  the 
pleading  silence  of  the  sufferer !  "  Son," — or  as  the  original 
might  more  accurately  and  tenderly  be  rendered,  "Child," — 
"be  of  good  cheer;  thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee."  That 
sounded  far  away  from  their  want.  It  was  far  away  from 
their  wish  ;  but  it  was  the  direct  answer  to  the  man's  true 
need.  Possibly  in  this  case  the  disease  was  the  result  of 
early  profligacy — 

"A  sin  of  flesh  avenged  in  kind." 

Probably,  too,  the  paralytic  felt,  whatever  his  four  kindly 
neighbours  may  have  done,  that  what  he  needed  most  was 
pardon ;  for  Christ  casts  not  His  pearls  before  eyes  that 
cannot  see  their  lustre,  nor  offers  His  gift  of  pardon  to 
hearts  unwounded  by  the  consciousness  of  sin.  The  long 
hours  of  compelled  inactivity  may  have  been  not  unvisited 
by   remorseful    memories,    and   the  conscience    may  have 


THE    FORGIVING   SON    OF   MAN,  I// 

Stirred  in  proportion  as  the  limbs  stiffened.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  our  Lord  points  to  the 
miracle  as  a  proof  of  His  power  to  pardon,  given  not  to 
the  palsied  man,  but  to  the  cavillers  standing  by,  as  if 
the  former  needed  no  proof,  but  had  grasped  the  assurance 
while  it  was  yet  unverified.  Thus  both  Christ's  declaration 
and  the  swift  acceptance  of  it  seem  to  imply  that  in  that 
motionless  form  stretched  on  its  pallet  an  inward  tempest 
of  penitence  and  longing  raged,  which  could  only  be  stilled 
by  something  far  deeper  than  any  bodily  healing. 

At  all  events,  the  plain  lesson  from  Christ's  treatment  of 
the  case  is  that  our  deepest  need  is  pardon.  Is  not  our 
relation  to  God  the  most  important  and  deep-reaching 
relation  that  we  sustain  ?  If  that  be  right,  will  not  every- 
thing else  come  right  ?  As  long  as  that  is  wrong,  will  not 
everything  be  wrong?  And  is  it  not  true  that,  whatever 
may  be  our  surface  diversities,  we  all  have  this  in  common, 
that  we  are  sinners  ?  King  and  clown,  philosopher  and 
fool,  cultured  and  ignorant,  are  alike  in  this,  that  "  all  have 
sinned,  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God."  Royal  robes 
and  fustian  jackets  cover  the  same  human  heart,  which  in 
all  is  gone  astray,  and  in  all  writhes  more  or  less  con- 
sciously under  the  same  unrest,  the  consequence  and  token 
of  separation  from  God. 

Hence  is  seen  the  wisdom  of  Christ  and  the  adaptation 
of  His  gospel  to  all  men,  in  that  it  does  not  trifle  with 
symptoms,  but  goes  direct  to  the  deep-lying  and  often  latent 
disease.  It  is  waste  time  and  energy  to  dally  with  surface 
and  consequential  evils.  The  only  way  of  making  the  fruit 
good  is  to  make  the  tree  good,  and  then  it  will  bring  forth 
according  to  its  kind.  Cooling  draughts  and  water-beds  are 
alleviations  for  the  sick,  but  the  cure  must  be  something 

N — 2 


178  THE   FORGIVING   SON   OF   MAN. 

more  potent.  The  fontal  source  of  sorrow  is  sin,  for  even 
to  the  most  superficial  observation,  the  greater  part  of  every 
man's  misery  comes  either  from  his  own  wrong-doing  or 
from  that  of  others;  and,  for  the  rest  of  it,  the  judgment  of 
faith  which  accepts  the  declaration  of  God  regards  it  as 
needed  because  of  sin,  in  order  to  discipline  and  purify. 

The  first  thing  to  do  in  order  to  stanch  men's  wounds 
and  redress  their  misery  is  to  make  them  pure,  and  the 
first  thing  to  do  in  order  to  make  them  pure  is  to  assure 
them  of  God's  forgiveness  for  their  past  impurity.  So  the 
sarcasms  which  are  often  launched  at  religious  men  for 
"  taking  tracts  to  people  when  they  want  bread,"  and  the 
like,  are  excessively  shallow,  and  simply  indicate  that  the 
critic  has  but  superficially  diagnosed  the  disease,  and  is 
therefore  woefully  wrong  about  the  needed  medicine.  God 
forbid  that  we  should  say  a  word  that  even  seemed  to 
depreciate  the  value  of  other  forms  of  philanthropic  effort, 
or  to  be  lacking  in  sympathy  and  admiration  for  the 
enthusiasm  that  fills  and  guides  many  self-sacrificing  and 
earnest  workers  amid  the  squalor  and  vice  of  our  complex 
and  half-barbarous  "  civilization."  It  is  the  plain  duty  of 
Christian  people  heartily  to  rejoice  in  and  to  help  all  such 
work,  and  to  recognize  it  as  good  and  blessed,  being  as 
it  is  a  direct  consequence  of  the  Christian  view  of  the 
solidarity  of  humanity  and  of  the  stewardship  of  possession. 
But  we  must  go  a  great  deal  deeper  than  aesthetic,  or 
intellectual,  or  political,  or  economic  reforms  can  reach 
before  we  touch  the  real  reason  why  men  are  miserable. 
The  black  well-head  must  be  stanched,  or  it  is  useless  trying 
to  drain  the  bog  and  make  its  quaking  morass  solid,  fertile 
soil.  We  shall  effectually  and  certainly  cure  the  misery 
only  when  we  begin  where  the  misery  begins,  and  where 


THE   FORGIVING   SON   OF   MAN.  179 

Christ  began,  and  deal  first  with  sin.  The  true  "saviour  of 
society "  is  he  who  can  go  to  his  paralyzed  and  wretched 
brother,  and,  as  a  minister  declaring  God's  heart,  can  say 
to  him,  "  Be  of  good  cheer ;  thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee." 
Then  the  palsy  will  go  out  of  the  shrunken  limbs,  and  a 
new  energy  will  come  into  thera,  and  the  sufferer  will  rise, 
take  up  his  bed,  and  walk. 

II.  Forgiveness  is  exclusively  a  Divine  act. 

We  read  that  there  were  sitting  by,  with  jealous  and 
therefore  blind  eyes,  a  company  of  learned  men,  religious 
formalists  of  the  first  water,  gathered,  as  one  of  the  ether 
evangelists  tells  us,  out  of  every  corner  of  the  land,  as  a 
kind  of  ecclesiastical  inquisition,  or  board  of  triers,  to  report 
on  this  young  Galilaean  Teacher,  whom  His  disciples  un- 
authorizedly  called  Rabbi.  They  were  unmoved  by  the 
dewy  pity  in  Christ's  gaze  as  by  the  nascent  hope  beginning 
to  swim  up  into  the  paralytic's  dim  eyes.  But  they  had  a 
keen  scent  for  heresy,  and  so  they  fastened  with  sure 
instinct  on  the  one  questionable  point,  "  This  man  speaketh 
blasphemies.  Who  can  forgive  sins  but  God  only?" 
Formalists,  whose  religion  is  mainly  a  bundle  of  red  tape 
tied  round  men's  limbs  to  keep  them  from  getting  at  things 
that  they  would  like,  are  blind  as  bats  to  the  radiant  beauty 
of  lofty  goodness,  and  insensible  as  rocks  to  the  wants  of 
sad  humanity. 

But  still  these  scribes  and  doctors  were  perfectly  right 
in  the  principle  which  they  conceived  Jesus  to  be  outraging. 
Forgiveness  is  an  exclusively  Divine  act.  Of  course  it  is 
so.  Sin  is  the  perversion  of  our  relation  to  God,  The 
word  "  sin  "  implies  God,  and  is  meaningless  unless  the  deed 
be  thought  of  in  reference  to  Him.  The  same  act  may  be 
regarded  as  being  sin,  or  crime,  or  vice.     As  sin,  it  has  to 


l8o  THE  FORGIVING  SON    OF   MAN. 

do  with  God;  as  crime,  it  has  to  do  v/ith  pubhc  law  and 
with  other  men ;  as  vice,  it  has  to  do  with  the  standard  of 
morahty,  and  may  affect  myself  alone.  The  representatives 
of  national  law  can  pardon  crime.  The  impersonal  tribunal 
of  morals  is  silent  as  to  the  forgiveness  of  vice.  God  alone 
has  to  do  with  vice  or  crime  considered  as  sin,  and  He 
alone  against  whom  only  we  have  sinned  can  pardon  our 
transgression. 

God  only  can  forgive  sins,  because  the  essential  in 
forgiveness  is  not  the  remission  of  external  penalty,  but  the 
unrestrained  flow  of  love  from  the  offended  heart  of  Him 
who  has  been  sinned  against.  When  you  fathers  and 
mothers  forgive  your  children,  does  the  pardon  consist 
simply  in  sparing  the  rod  ?  Does  it  not  much  rather  consist 
in  this,  that  your  love  is  neither  deflected  nor  embittered 
any  more,  by  reason  of  your  child's  wrong-doing,  but  pours 
on  the  little  rebel,  as  before  the  fault  ?  So  God's  forgiveness 
is  at  bottom,  "  Child,  there  is  nothing  in  My  heart  to  thee 
but  pure  and  perfect  love."  Our  sins  fill  the  sky  with  mists, 
through  which  the  sun  itself  cannot  but  look  a  red  ball  of 
lurid  fire.  But  it  shines  on  the  upper  side  of  the  mists  all 
the  same  and  all  the  time,  and  thins  them  away  and  scatters 
them  utterly,  and  shines  forth  in  its  own  brightness  on  the 
rejoicing  heart.  Pardon  is  God's  love,  unchecked  and 
unembittered,  granted  to  the  wrong-doer.  That  is  a  Divine 
act  exclusively.  The  carping  doctors  were  quite  right ; 
"no  man  can  forgive  sins  but  God  only." 

Such  forgiveness  may  coexist  with  the  retention  of  some 
penalties  for  the  forgiven  sin.  "  Thou  wast  a  God  that 
forgavest  them,  and  Thou  tookest  vengeance  on  their  inven- 
tions." When  sins  are  crimes  they  are  generally  punished. 
The  penalties  of  sins  considered  as  vices  or  breaches  of  the 


THE  FORGIVING  SON   OF   MAN.  l8l 

standard  of  morality  are  always  left.  For  the  evil  thing 
done  has  entered  into  the  complex  whole  of  the  doer's  past, 
and  its  "natural  issues"  are  not  averted,  though  their 
character  is  modified,  when  they  are  borne  in  consciousness 
of  God's  forgiveness.  Then  they  become  merciful  chastise- 
ment, and  therefore  tokens  of  the  Father's  love.  The  true 
penalty  of  evil,  considered  as  sin,  is  wholly  abolished  for 
the  man  whom  God  forgives,  for  that  penalty  is  separation 
from  God,  which  is  the  only  real  death,  and  he  who  is 
pardoned  and  knows  that  he  is,  knows  also  that  he  is  joined 
to  God  by  the  pouring  on  him,  unworthy,  of  that  infinitely 
placable  and  patient  love.  Pardon  is  love  rising  above 
the  black  dam  which  we  have  piled  up  between  us  and 
God,  and  flooding  our  hearts  with  its  glad  waters. 

We  might  add  here,  though  it  be  somewhat  apart  from 
our  direct  purpose,  that  the  forgiveness  of  sin  is  a  possibility, 
in  spite  of  modern  declarations  that  it  is  not.  Many  confi- 
dent voices  say  so  now,  and  when  we  venture  to  ask,  with 
the  humility  which  becomes  a  mere  believer  in  Christianity 
when  addressing  our  modern  wise  men,  why  forgiveness  is 
impossible,  we  are  referred  to  the  iron  links  of  necessary 
connection  between  a  man's  present  and  his  past,  and 
assured  that  in  such  a  universe  as  we  live  in,  neither  God 
nor  man  can  prevent  the  seed  sown  from  springing,  and  the 
sower  from  reaping  what  he  has  sown.  But  we  may  take 
heart  to  answer  that  we,  too,  believe  that  "  whatsoever  a 
man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap,"  and  then  may  ask  what 
that  has  to  do  with  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  forgiveness, 
which  leaves  that  solemn  law  quite  untampered  with,  in  so 
far  as  the  iron  links  which  the  objectors  contemplate  are 
concerned,  and  proclaims  this  as  the  very  heart  of  God's 
pardon,  that  the  sinful  man,  who  forsokes  his  sin  and  trusts 


1 82  THE  FORGIVING  SON   OF  MAN. 

in  Christ's  sacrifice,  will  be  treated  as  if  his  sin  were  non- 
existent, in  so  far  as  it  could  interfere  with  the  flow  of  the 
full  tide  of  God's  love. 

But  we  need  a  definite  conveyance  of  this  Divine 
forgiveness  to  ourselves.  If  we  have  ever  been  down  into 
the  cellars  of  our  own  hearts  and  seen  the  ugly  things  that 
creep  and  sting  there,  a  vague  trust  in  a  vague  mercy  from 
a  half-hidden  God  will  not  be  enough  for  us.  The  mere 
peradventure  that  God  is  merciful  is  too  shadowy  to  grasp, 
and  too  flimsy  for  a  troubled  conscience  to  lean  on.  No- 
thing short  of  the  King's  own  pardon,  sealed  with  His  own 
seal,  is  valid ;  and  unless  we  can  come  into  actual  contact 
with  God,  and  hear,  somehow,  with  infallible  certitude  from  . 
His  own  lips  His  assurance  of  forgiveness,  we  shall  not  have 
enough  for  our  souls'  needs. 

in.  Christ  claims  and  exercises  this  Divine  prerogative 
of  forgiveness. 

The  fact  that  Jesus  answered  the  muttered  thought  of 
these  critics  might  have  convinced  them  that  He  exercised 
other  Divine  prerogatives,  and  read  men's  hearts  with  a 
clearer  eye  than  ours.  He  must  be  rightly  addressed  as 
"  Lord"  of  whom  it  can  be  said,  "  There  is  not  a  word  in 
my  tongue,  but,  lo.  Thou  knowest  it  altogether."  If  He 
possess  the  Divine  faculty  of  reading  hearts.  He  is  entitled 
to  exercise  the  Divine  power  of  forgiving  what  He  discerns 
there. 

But  mark  His  answer  to  the  objectors.  He  admits  their 
premises  completely.  They  said,  "  No  man  can  forgive  sins, 
but  God  only."  Now,  if  Jesus  were  only  a  man  like  the  rest 
of  us,  standing  in  the  same  relation  to  God  as  other  saints, 
prophets,  and  teachers,  and  having  nothing  more  to  do  with 
God's  forgiveness  than  simply  to  say  to  a  troubled  heart,  as 


THE   FORGIVING  SOf^   OF   MAN.  183 

any  of  us  might  do,  "  Brother,  cheer  up ;  I  tell  you  that  God 
forgives  you  and  all  who  seek  His  pardon  ; "  if  His  words  to 
the  paralytic  were,  in  His  intention,  only  ministerial  and 
declaratory ; — then  He  was  bound,  by  all  the  obligations  of 
a  religious  Teacher,  to  turn  to  the  objectors  and  tell  them 
that  they  misapprehended  His  meaning.  Why  did  He  not 
say  to  them  in  effect,  "I  speak  blasphemies  !  No,  I  do  not 
mean  that.  I  know  that  God  alone  forgives,  and  I  am  only 
telling  our  poor  brother  here,  as  you  might  also  do,  that  He 
does.  The  blasphemy  exists  only  in  your  misunderstanding 
of  My  meaning  "  ?  But  Christ's  answer  is  not  in  the  least 
like  this,  though  every  sane  and  devout  teacher  of  religion 
would  certainly  have  answered  so.  In  effect  He  says,  "  You 
are  quite  right.  No  man  can  forgive  sins,  but  God  only.  I 
forgive  sins.  Then  whom  think  ye  that  I,  the  Son  of  man, 
am  ?  I  claim  to  forgive  sins.  It  is  easy  to  make  such  a 
claim,  easier  than  to  claim  power  to  raise  this  sick  man 
from  his  bed,  because  you  can  see  whether  his  rising  follows 
the  word,  whereas  the  other  claim  cannot  be  visibly  sub- 
stantiated. Both  sentences  are  equally  easy  to  say,  both 
things  equally  impossible  for  a  man  to  do ;  only  the  doing 
of  the  one  is  visible,  and  of  the  other  is  not.  I  will  do  the 
visible  impossibility,  and  then  you  can  judge  whether  I  have 
the  right  which  I  allege  to  do  the  invisible  one." 

Clearly  there  is  in  this  answer  of  Jesus  a  distinct  claim 
to  forgive  sins  as  God  does.  The  objection  which  He 
meets  and  the  manner  of  meeting  it  alike  forbid  us  to  take 
"  power  to  forgive  sins  "  in  this  context  in  any  but  the  highest 
Divine  sense.  Now,  this  claim  seems  to  bring  us  face  to 
face  with  a  very  distinct  alternative,  which  I  venture  to 
urge  on  your  consideration.  To  offer  the  choice  of  being 
impaled  on  one  or  other  horn  of  a  dilemma  is  not  the  best 


1 84  THE  FORGIVING   SON  OF   MAN. 

way  of  convincing  hesitating  minds  of  the  truth  ;  but  still  it  is 
fair,  and  to  some  may  be  cogent,  to  say  that  a  very  weighty 
"  either  ...  or  "  is  here  forced  on  us.  Either  the  Pharisees 
were  right,  and  Jesus  Christ,  the  meek,  the  humble,  the 
religious  Sage,  the  Pattern  of  all  self-abnegation,  the  sweet 
reasonableness  of  whose  teaching  eighteen  centuries  have 
not  exhausted  nor  obeyed,  was  an  audacious  blasphemer,  or 
He  was  God  manifest  in  the  flesh.  The  whole  incident 
compels  us,  in  all  honest  interpretation,  to  take  His  words  to 
the  sick  man  as  the  Pharisees  took  them,  as  being  the  claim 
to  exercise  an  exclusively  Divine  prerogative.  He  assumed 
power  to  blot  out  a  man's  transgressions,  and  vindicated  the 
assumption,  not  on  the  ground  that  He  was  but  declaring  or 
bringing  the  Divine  forgiveness,  but  on  the  ground  that  He 
could  do  what  no  mere  man  could.  If  Jesus  Christ  said 
and  did  anything  like  what  this  narrative  ascribes  to  Him — 
and  if  we  know  anything  at  all  about  Him,  we  know  that  He 
did  so — there  is  no  hypothesis  as  to  Him  which  can  save 
His  character  for  the  reverence  of  mankhid,  but  that  which 
sees  in  Him  the  Word  made  flesh,  the  world's  Judge,  from 
whom  the  world  may  receive,  and  from  whom  alone  it  can 
certainly  receive,  Divine  forgiveness. 

IV.  Jesus  Christ  brings  visible  witnesses  of  His  invisible 
power  to  forgive  sins. 

Of  course  the  miracle  of  healing  the  paralytic  was  such 
evidence  in  very  complete  and  special  form,  inasmuch  as  it 
and  the  forgiveness  which  it  was  wrought  to  attest  were 
equally  Divine  acts,  beyond  the  reach  of  man's  power.  We 
may  note,  too,  that  our  Lord  here  teaches  us  the  relative 
importance  of  these  two,  subordinating  the  miraculous  heal- 
ing to  the  higher  work  of  giving  pardon.  But  we  may 
permissibly  extend  the  principle,  and  point   to   the  subsi- 


THE  FORGIVING  SON   OF   MAN.  1 85 

diary  external  effects  of  Christianity  in  the  material  and 
visible  sphere  of  things  as  attestations  of  its  inward  power, 
which  only  he  who  feels  his  burden  of  sin  falUng  from  his 
shoulders  at  the  cross  knows  as  a  matter  of  experience. 
The  manifest  effects  of  the  Christian  faith  on  individuals, 
and  of  the  less  complete  Christian  faith  which  is  diffused 
through  society,  do  stand  as  strong  proofs  of  the  reality  of 
Christ's  claim  to  exercise  the  power  to  forgive.  The  visible 
results  of  every  earnest  effort  to  carry  the  gospel  to  men, 
and  the  effects  produced  in  the  lives  of  the  recipients,  do 
create  an  immense  presumption  in  favour  of  the  reality  of 
the  power  which  the  gospel  proclaims  that  Jesus  exercises. 
We  may  admit  the  extravagance,  the  coarseness,  the  narrow- 
ness, which  too  often  deform  such  efforts,  and  dwarf  the 
spiritual  stature  of  their  converts  ;  but  when  the  bitterest 
criticism  has  blown  away  much  as  froth,  is  there  not  left  in 
the  cup  a  great  deal  which  looks  and  tastes  very  like  the 
new  wine  of  the  kingdom  ?  Passions  tamed,  hopes  hallowed, 
new  and  noble  direction  given  to  aspirations,  self  subdued, 
the  charities  of  life  springing  like  flowers  where  were  briers 
and  thorns  or  waste  barrenness,  homes  made  Bethels, 
houses  of  God,  that  were  pandemoniums, — these  and  the 
like  are  the  witnesses  that  Jesus  Christ  advanced  no  rash 
claims,  nor  raised  hopes  which  He  could  not  fulfil,  when  He 
said,  "Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee."  Wherever  Christ's  forgiving 
power  enters  a  heart,  life  is  beautified,  purified,  and  ennobled, 
and  secondary  material  benefits  follows  in  its  train.  We 
have  a  right  to  claim  the  difference  between  so-called 
Christian  and  non-Christian  lands  as  attestations  of  the 
reality  of  Christ's  saving  work.  It  is  a  valid  answer  to  much 
of  the  doubt  of  to-day ; — If  you  wish  to  see  His  credentials, 
look  around.      His  own  answer  to  John's  messengers  still 


1 86  THE   FORGIVING  SON    OF   MAN. 

remains  applicable  :  "  Go  and  tell  John  the  things  that  ye 
see  and  hear."  There  are  miracles,  palpable  and  visible, 
still  wrought  by  Jesus  Christ,  more  convincing  than  were 
those  to  which  the  forerunner  was  directed  when  his  faith 
faltered.  It  is  still  true  that  "  His  name,  through  faith  in 
His  name,  makes  men  whole,"  and  that  in  presence  of 
unbelievers,  who  may  test  the  cure.  Still  the  dead  are 
raised,  deaf  ears  are  opened,  dormant  faculties  are  quickened, 
and,  in  a  thousand  channels,  the  quick  spirit  of  life  flows 
from  Jesus,  and  "  everything  lives  whithersoever  that  river 
Cometh."  Let  any  system  of  belief  or  of  no-belief  do  the 
like  if  it  can.  This  rod  has  budded,  at  all  events.  Let 
the  modern  successors  of  Jannes  and  Jambres,  who  have 
found  out  that  Christianity  is  a  "  creed  outworn,"  and  Jesus 
an  exhausted  Source  of  power,  do  the  same  with  their 
enchantments. 

These  thoughts  yield  two  very  plain  lessons.  One  is 
addressed  to  professing  followers  of  Jesus  Christ.  You 
say  that  you  have  received  in  the  depths  of  your  spirit  the 
touch  of  His  forgiving  hand,  blotting  out  your  sins.  No- 
body can  tell  whether  you  have  or  not_  but  by  observing 
your  life.  Does  it  look  as  if  your  profession  were  true  ? 
The  world  takes  its  notions  of  Christianity  a  great  deal 
more  from  you,  its  professors,  than  it  does  from  preachers 
or  apologists.  You  are  the  books  of  evidences  which  most 
men  read.  See  to  it  that  your  lives  worthily  represent  the 
redeeming  power  of  your  Lord,  and  that  men,  looking  at 
your  beautiful,  holy,  and  gentle  life,  may  be  constrained  to 
say,  "  There  must  be  something  in  the  religion  that 
makes  him  such  a  man." 

The  other  lesson  is  for  us  all.  Since  we  are  all  alike 
in  that  forgiveness  is  our  deepest  need,  let  us  seek  to  have 


THE  FORGIVING   SON   OF   MAN.  1 8/ 

that  prime  and  fundamental  necessity  supplied  first  of  all;  and 
since  Jesus  Christ  assures  us  that  He  exercises  the  Divine 
prerogative  of  forgiveness,  and  gives  us  materials  for  veri- 
fying His  claim  by  the  visible  results  of  His  power,  let  us 
all  go  to  Him  for  the  pardon  which  we  need  most  of  all 
our  needs,  and  which  He  and  only  He  can  give  us.  Do 
not  waste  your  time  in  trying  to  purify  the  stream  of  your 
lives,  miles  down  from  its  source ;  but  let  Him  heal  it,  and 
make  the  bitter  waters  sweet  at  the  Fountain-head.  Do  not 
fancy,  friend,  that  your  palsy  or  your  fever,  your  paralysis 
of  will  towards  good,  or  the  diseased  ardour  with  which  you 
follow  evil  and  the  consequent  restless  misery,  can  be 
healed  anywhere  besides.  Go  to  Christ,  the  forgiving 
Christ,  and  let  Him  lay  His  hand  upon  you,  and  from  His 
own  sweet  and  infallible  lips  listen  to  the  blessed  words  that 
shall  work  like  a  charm  in  all  your  nature,  "  Son,  be  of  good 
cheer ;  thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee ;  "  "  Daughter,  thy  faith  hath 
made  thee  whole ;  depart  in  peace."  Then  shall  the  eyes  of 
the  blind  be  opened,  then  shall  the  lame  man  leap  as  an 
hart,  and  the  tongue  of  the  dumb  sing.  Then  limitations, 
sorrows,  and  the  diseases  of  the  spirit  shall  pass  away,  and 
forgiveness  will  bear  fruit  in  joy  and  power,  in  holiness, 
health,  and  peace. 


CHRIST'S   "VERILY,  VERILY." 


CHRIST'S  "VERILY,  VERILY." 

"Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you."— John  i.  51. 

We  owe  the  preservation  of  this  remarkable  form  of 
asseveration  to  this  evangelist.  In  the  other  Gospels  the 
single  "  Verily  "  habitually  appears,  but  the  double  never  ; 
while  in  John's  Gospel  the  double  occurs  some  twenty-five 
times,  and  the  single  not  at  all.  Most  of  us  are,  no 
doubt,  aware  that  the  word  rendered  "Verily"  is  the  simple 
"  Amen,"  which  properly  means  " firm "  or  "steadfast."  It 
is  used  sometimes  to  confirm  an  assertion  which  follows 
it,  and  sometimes  to  sum  up  a  prayer  which  precedes  it. 
In  the  former  case  its  force  is,  "Thus  it  certainly 
is ;  "  in  the  latter  it  may  be  paraphrased,  "So  may  it  be." 
Its  reduplication  gives  emphasis,  and  may  be  regarded 
as  a  superlative,  "Most  certainly."  This  doubled  form 
of  the  phrase  is  used  by  Christ  only.  It  becomes  no  other 
lips.  It  may  be  useful  to  ponder  its  significance,  and  to 
bring  together  the  various  declarations  which  our  Lord 
heralds  by  this  solemn  attestation.  We  may  learn  from  the 
study  lessons  of  three  kinds  —  as  to  the  authority  of  the 
Teacher,  the  certainty  and  importance  of  His  teaching, 
and  as  to  the  duty  of  the  scholars. 

1.  First,  then,  we  note  what  that  doubled  "Verily"  claims 
for  the  Teacher. 

Nothing  is   more   remarkable  and   distinctive   in    our 


192  CHRIST'S   "VERILY,  VERILY." 

/Lord's  words  than  their  air  of  authority,  combined  with  the 
/most  perfect  gentleness,  meekness,  and  humiUty.     He  lays 
down  His  bare  word  before  us,  as  if  saying,  "  Accept  this 
because  I  say  it,"  and  for  no  other  reason.     Such  a  tone  is 
unique,  at  least  among  sane  teachers.      There  have  been 
fanatics  and  self-deceived  enthusiasts   in   abundance,  who 
have  clashed  down  their  unsupported  assertions  before  men, 
and  insisted  on  their  reception;  but  they  have  been  over- 
whelmed by  universal  scorn,  or  by  still  more  galling  laughter. 
One  Teacher  alone  has  succeeded  in  persuading  men  that 
He  had  a  right  to  speak  thus,  and  been  taken  at  His  own 
valuation.     The  phenomenon  is  absolutely  unique. 
\     Contrast  the  authoritative  ring  of  this  doubled  "Verily, 
verily,"  with  the  prophets'  standing  formula,  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord."     The  loftiest  of  the  inspired  men  who  dwelt  nearest 
the  throne  of  the  Ineffable,  and  were  in  fullest  possession 
of  the  secret  of  the  Lord,  never  ventured  to  obtrude  or 
even   to  show  their  own   personality,  but   hid   themselves 
behind   the   word   of  which   they   were   but   the  vehi^cles. 
Christ  never  uses  their  manner  of  speech,  and  seeks  not,  as 
they  did,  to  secure  acceptance  for  His  utterances  by  tracing 
them  to  the  Lord ;  but  while  He  declares  that  He  speaks 
that  which  He  heard  of  the  Father,  He  separates  His  manner 
of  hearing  from  that  of  ordinary  inspiration  as  much  as  He 
does  His  manner  of  communicating  the  thing  heard  from 
that  of  other  organs  of  the  Divine  Word.     "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord"  was  the  seal  impressed  on  the  prophetic  word;  "I 
say  unto   you  "   is  the  characteristic  of  Christ's.     Thus  He 
stands  above  the  prophets,  by  whom  at  sundry  times  and 
in  divers  manners  God  spake  unto  men,  being  not  only,  as 
they  were,  messengers,  but  Himself  the  Message. 

Contrast  His  authoritative  teaching  with  that  sort  which 


CHRIST'S    "VERILY,   VERILY,"  193 

was  in  vogue  in  Palestine  at  the  time.  We  are  told  that  to 
understand  Jesus  we  must  study  the  rabbinical  teaching 
of  His  day,  in  which  we  shall  find  the  germs  of  His.  That 
teaching  is  well  worthy  of  study  by  competent  persons,  and 
affords  much  interesting  material  for  the  elucidation  of  the 
Gospels;  but  the  verdict  of  the  generation  which  heard  both 
it  and  Jesus  is  nearer  the  truth  than  the  modern  idea  that 
He  Avas  only  a  Rabbi  of  a  better  sort.  The  difference 
between  Him  and  the  doctors  of  the  Law,  not  the  likeness, 
was  what  struck  the  people  who  were  familiar  with  both. 
"  They  were  astonished  at  His  doctrine  :  for  He  taught  them 
as  having  authority,  and  not  as  the  scribes."  However 
little  they  apprehended  the  substance  of  His  teaching,  they 
felt  the  difference  in  its  manner  from  that  to  which  they 
were  accustomed ;  and  the  difference  lay  precisely  here,  in 
the  tone  of  authority  with  which  He  spoke.  The  rabbis 
and  scribes  founded  their  decisions  on  tradition,  as  any  one 
who  reads  a  page  of  the  Talmud  will  see.  Rabbi  This 
says  so-and-so  ;  Rabbi  That  says  thus.  Rabbi  A,  in  the 
name  of  Rabbi  B,  said  this ;  and  so  on  to  weariness.  They 
passed  from  one  to  another  some  stale  drops  of  water  drawn 
long  ago  by  other  hands.  Jesus  Christ  stood  forth  among 
these  retailers  of  other  men's  wisdom,  from  which  any 
freshness  that  it  ever  had  possessed  had  evaporated,  as  a 
fresh  Fountain  of  certitude  and  truth,  and  "  cried,  saying,  If 
any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  to  Me,  and  drink."  In  His 
own  Being  are  hidden  the  springs  of  wisdom  and  knowledge. 
His  word  is  sovereign,  and  He  has  learned  from  no  man. 
The  contrast  of  His  manner  of  teaching  with  that  of  the 
doctors  His  contemporaries  is  more  important,  and  leads  to 
truer  conceptions  of  His  nature  and  work  than  any  fortuitous 
and  isolated  resemblances  in  specific  sayings,  which  may  be 

0 — 2 


194  CHRIST'S   "VERILY,   VERILY." 

discovered,  thougli  these  were  more  numerous  and  striking 
than  they  have  yet  been  shown  to  be. 

Contrast  Christ's  "Verily,  verily,"  with  the  tone  suitable 
to  all  thinkers  who  have  learned  the  truths  which  they 
preach,  and  have  come  to  apprehend  them  through  medi- 
tation or  study.  It  becomes  them  to  argue.  Christ  asserts. 
The  thinker  shows  the  path  by  which  he  has  cut  his  way 
through  the  tangled  underwoods  of  error  into  the  open 
where  he  sees  the  sky.  Christ  never  speaks  as  if  any 
previous  ignorance  or  doubt  had  been  His  experience. 
He  never  traces  His  illumination  to  others.  He  never 
takes  the  place  of  a  learner,  either  in  the  moment  of  speak- 
ing or  in  any  previous  time.  He  seldom  or  never  supports 
His  utterances  by  reasons,  even  although  many  of  them 
are  by  no  means  self-evident  or  axiomatic.  The  virtues 
of  all  other  servants  and  missionaries  of  truth,  humility, 
self-oblivion,  calm  allegation  of  grounds  for  statements, 
acknowledgment  of  having  grown  by  degrees  to  the  appre- 
hension of  truth,  are  entirely  absent  in  Jesus  Christ.  He 
clashes  down  His  bare  word  before  us,  if  we  may  so  say, 
and  bids  us  take  it,  simply  and  solely  because  it  is  His. 
As  one  of  our  old  divines  has  it,  "  Man  is  problematical ; 
Christ  is  dogmatical."  And  yet  the  world  has  recognized 
in  this  Teacher,  who  does  the  very  things  that  would  ruin 
any  other  teacher's  reputation  and  influence,  as  the  true 
"  Master  of  those  who  know,"  and  exalts  Him  as  the 
Pattern  and  realized  Ideal  of  what  the  guide  of  men  should 
be.  Strange  that  such  an  anomalous  Master  should  have 
won  such  disciples !  Stranger  still  that  so  many  of  them 
should  so  little  understand  the  Master  whom  they  profess 
to  accept,  as  to  be  blind  to  the  meaning  of  that  anomaly 
in  His  method  ! 


CHRIST'S   "VERILY,  VERILY."  195 

For  if  we  once  recognize  this  peculiarity  in  Cririst's 
teachings,  we  should  not  stop  till  we  have  dealt  fairly  with 
the  question,  What  right  had  Jesus  to  speak  thus  ?  Why 
should  I  take  from  His  lips,  on  the  authority  of  His  bare 
word,  what  He  chooses  to  say  to  me  ?  By  what  title  does 
He  assume  the  place  of  a  Teacher  who  has  done  all  that  is 
required  of  Him  when  He  asserts?  Surely  there  is  but 
one  answer  possible  to  such  questions.  It  cannot  be  too 
strongly  stated  or  too  often  reiterated  that  the  authority 
which  He  claims  is  unwarrantable  usurpation  unless  He  is 
"the  Word  of  God."  Unless  we  are  prepared  to  accept 
Jesus  as  standing  in  an  altogether  different  relation  to  the 
truth  which  He  utters  from  that  in  which  other  men  stand 
to  those  truths  which  they  have  attained  to  perceive,  we 
cannot  vindicate  His  method  of  teaching  from  the  charge 
of  arrogance,  nor  His  character  from  a  serious  and  well- 
nigh  filial  flaw.  But  if  it  be  the  fact  that  He  not  merely 
r.pprehended,  but  was,  the  Truth,  then  we  can  understand 
His  self-assertion,  inasmuch  as  the  self-manifestation  of 
His  personality  is  the  fullest  declaration  and  vindication 
of  the  Truth,  which  He  is.  Then,  bowing  before  Him  in 
whom  the  fulness  of  the  wisdom  of  God  did  bodily  dwell, 
and  receiving  Him  as  the  Word  who  is  the  self-revelation 
of  God  and  the  Light  of  men,  we  learn  the  deep  significance 
of  His  method.  Only  on  the  ground  of  His  Divine 
authority  is  He  vindicated  from  the  charge  of  arrogant 
presumption,  when  instead  of  argument  He  gives  Himself, 
and  does  not  deign  to  commend  Hii  deepest  and  most 
mysterious  utterances  by  any  other  reason  for  our  accept- 
ance of  them  than  this,  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you." 

H.  Let  me  point  out  what  this  formula  implies  as  to  the 
certitude  and  iniDcrtance  of  Christ's  lessons. 


196  ceirist's  "verilv,  verily." 

'^        "  Verily,   verily,"   is  substantially  equivalent  to  "  Most 

'  certainly,"  and  by  its  attachment  to  certain  sayings  of  our 
Lord's,  these  are  placed  as  in  His  estimation  beyond  cavil 
or  hesitation.  Other  teachers  have  to  say,  "  Peradventure," 
or  "  This  I  deem  to  be  true  ;"  but  Jesus  asserts,  with  unfal- 
tering confidence,  the  irrefragable  certitude  and  immovable 
stability  of  His  utterances,  and  lays  them  down  for  the 
foundation  of  all  pur  thinkings  on  the  subjects  which  they 

-    touch. 

i  In  such  a  day  as  this,  when  all  things  seem  to  be  cast 
into  the  cauldron  again,  and  the  firmest  institutions  and 
beliefs  are  melting  away  in  the  heat,  the  world  needs,  more 
perhaps  than  ever  it  did,  to  listen  to  that  Voice,  so  cahn 
and  quiet,  which  yet  rises  clear  above  the  hubbub  of  men, 
proclaiming  their  doubts  or  questionings,  and  speaks  to  us 
the  ultimate  and  eternal  truths  on  which  mind,  heart,  and 
spirit  can  build,  and,  building,  be  at  rest.  Much  is  dark, 
much  in  organized  institutions  and  written  creeds  is  doubt- 
ful and  perishable ;  but  here  at  least  is  a  central  core  of 
solid  rock,  which  no  pressure  can  cause  to  crumble  nor  any 
force  shift :  "  Behold,  I  loy  in  Zion  for  a  foundation  a  Stone, 
a  tried  Corner-Stone,  a  sure  Foundation." 

Think  of  the  difference  between  the  freshness  and 
adaptation  to  the  wants  of  this  day,  of  the  words  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  film  of  old-fashioned  remoteness  which  has 
crept  over  all  sayings  of  all  the  wise  men  of  the  past,  except 
Hin.self,  and  tell  us  what  is  the  secret  of  the  immortal 
youth  and  close-fittingness  of  this  Man's  words.  How  hap- 
pens it  that  to-day,  amidst  a  world  so  different  outwardly 
and  inwardly  from  the  simple  life  amid  the  Galilean  hills, 
where  these  words  were  first  spoken,  they  come  as  close  to 
us,  and  in  many  respects  even  closer  than  they  did  to  those 


Christ's  "verily,  verily."  197 

who  heard  them  first?  How  happens  it,  except  because 
they  are  so  limpidly  free  from  all  admixture  of  the  soil  that 
there  is  nothing  in  them  to  decay,  and  hence  all  ages  may 
drink  and  find  them  sparkling  and  fresh?  Christ's  words 
have  no  marks  of  human  limitations,  and  therefore  no  fate 
of  transitoriness,  but  are  to  every  generation  the  basis  of 
certitude.  That  sure  foundation  abides,  like  the  massive 
blocks  still  to  be  seen  in  their  places  in  the  walls  of 
Jerusalem,  on  which  a  hundred  generatiors  have  looked 
as  they  passed  into  oblivion,  and  which  still  remain  sharp- 
cut  and  solid  as  on  the  long-forgotten  day  when  they  were 
first  laid.  Christ's  "  Verily,  verily,"  guarantees  the  absolute 
certainty  of  the  truths  which  it  heralds. 

Further,  this  formula  declares  the  importance  of  His 
teachings  which  are  introduced  by  it.  It  calls  special 
attention  to  these,  and  is,  as  it  were,  an  underscoring  of 
them,  or  printing  them  in  italics.  As  I  have  already 
remarked,  these  truths  are  often  by  no  means  self-evident. 
On  the  contrary,  the  utterances  to  which  Jesus  attaches 
the  double  "  Verily  "  are  usually  those  which  deal  with  most 
recondite  and  profound  teachings. 

A  rough  classification  of  the  instances  of  the  occurrence 
of  the  phrase,  however  imperfect  it  must  necessarily  be 
within  our  limits,  may  serve  in  some  measure  to  bring  out 
the  importance  of  the  truths  commended  to  us  by  it.  First, 
then,  it  points  attention  to  teachings  concerning  Himself. 
With  it  He  calls  us  to  believe,  on  His  authority,  in  His  pre- 
existence :  "  Before  Abraham  was,  I  am."  With  it  He 
asserts  His  unity  of  being  and  identity  of  action  with  the 
Father:  "The  Son  can  do  nothing  of  Himself;  but  what- 
soever things  the  Father  doeth,  these  also  doeth  the  Son 
likewise."     He  assumes  the  office  of  medium  of  all  com- 

o  3—2 


198  CHRIST'S   "VERILY,  VERILY." 

munication  between  earth  and  heaven:  "Ye  shall  see  the 
heavens  open,  and  the  angels  of  God  ascending  and 
descending  upon  the  Son  of  man."  He  claims  to  be  the 
means  by  which  men  enter  the  fold  of  God  :  "  I  am  the 
Door  of  the  sheep."  He  asserts  that  He  is  the  infaUible 
Teacher,  speaking  from  personal  experience  of  unseen 
things :  "  We  speak  that  we  do  know,  and  testify  that 
we  have  seen."  He  presents  Himself  as  the  God-given 
Source  and  Sustenance  of  true  life  :  "  My  Father  giveth  you 
the  true  bread  from  heaven."  He  promises  the  certain 
acceptance  of  all  prayer  truly  offered  in  His  name  :  "  What- 
soever ye  shall  ask  of  the  Father  in  My  name.  He  will  do 
it."  Finally,  He  proclaims  that  He  must  die  'in  order  to 
accomplish  His  life-giving  purpose  and  mission:  "Except 
a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth 
alone :  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit."  So  His 
Divine  nature,  pre-existence,  absolute  union  of  being  and 
identity  of  action  with  the  Father,  His  position  and  office 
as  the  Channel  of  all  God's  approach  to  us  and  of  ours  to 
Him,  His  infallible  reading  off  to  us  of  the  things  which 
He  has  seen  and  heard  in  the  depths  of  eternity  and  the 
glories  of  the  throne,  and  the  solemn  necessity  for  His 
death  of  shame,  are  all  commended  to  us,  not  by  argument, 
but  simply  by  His  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you."  These 
are  not  self-evident  truths,  but,  recondite  and  mysterious  as 
some  of  them  are,  Jesus  brings  nothing  to  support  them 
but  His  own  word.  "  Because  He  could  swear  by  no 
greater,  He  sware  by  Himself." 

A  second  set  of  His  sayings  thus  prefaced  refers  to  us 
and  our  relations  to  Him.  Thus  He  reveals  the  condition 
of  spiritual  life  as  being  union  with  Him  by  faith  :  "  Except 
ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink  His  blood,  ye 


CHRIST'S   "VERILY,  VERILY."  199 

have  no  life  in  you ; "  "  He  that  heareth  My  word,  and 
believeth  in  Him  that  sent  Me,  hath  everlasting  life  ;"  "  If 
a  man  keep  My  sayings,  he  shall  never  see  death."  He 
asserts  with  the  same  strong  confirmation  the  necessity  of 
a  new  nature  being  communicated  ere  men  can  either  see  or 
enter  the  kingdom  of  God  :  "  Except  a  man  be  born  again, 
he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God ; "  and  again,  "  Except  a 
man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter 
into  the  kingdom."  With  the  same  strong  confirmation 
He  presents  Himself  as  the  Pattern  of  lowly  love  and  self- 
abasing  service  to  all  His  followers :  *'  The  servant  is  not 
greater  than  his  lord."  He  lovingly  identifies  Himself  with 
us,  and  hints  at  a  transcendent  unity  of  being  with  Him  : 
"  He  that  receiveth  whomsoever  I  send,  receiveth  Me." 
He  even  holds  out  the  promise,  that  as  He,  in  His 
mysterious  oneness  with  the  Father,  did  the  same  Divine 
works,  so  His  servants,  by  virtue  of  their  corresponding 
union  with  Him,  shall  exercise  activities  like  His  :  "  The 
works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also,  and  greater  works  than 
these  shall  He  do," 

There  remain  one  or  two  other  instances  of  the  use  of 
the  double  "Verily,"  which  belong  to  less  profound  matters. 
It  is  sometimes  employed  in  Christ's  predictions,  both  of  a 
near  and  of  a  remote  future,  which  could  only  be  made  by 
supernatural  knowledge,  and  must  obviously  be  accepted 
on  His  bare  word.  **  One  of  you  shall  betray  Me  ;  "  "Ye 
shall  weep  and  lament,  .  .  .  but  your  sorrow  shall  be 
turned  into  joy  ;  "  "  The  cock  shall  not  crow  till  thou  hast 
denied  Me  thrice ; "  "  When  thou  wast  young,  thou  girdedst 
thyself,  .  .  .  but  when  thou  art  old,  another  shall  gird 
.thee." 

Still  further,  He  employs  the  expression  once  or  twice 


200  CHRIST s  "verily,  verily." 

when,  with  Divine  penetration  of  insight  and  certitude  of 
stroke,  He  lays  bare  to  men  their  hidden  foulness  of  nature, 
as  when  He  says,  "  Ye  seek  Me,  not  because  ye  saw  the 
miracle,  but  because  ye  did  eat  of  the  loaves ; "  or  again, 
"  He  that  doeth  sin  is  the  servant  of  sin." 

So,  in  all  the  sayings  to  which  this  double  "  Verily  "  is 
attached,  we  can  discern  more  or  less  clearly  the  appeal  to 
His  Divine  authority  as  Revealer ;  and  the  most  of  them  are 
truths  which  would  never  have  dawned  on  men's  minds 
except  He  had  uttered  them,  but,  being  uttered,  become 
the  pillars  of  our  faith  and  the  core  of  the  gospel. 
i--       HI.  Lastly,  we   have   to   consider  what  this    form    of 

confirmation  implies  as  to  the  scholars. 

;         It  implies  that  those  to  whom  it  was  addressed  had  dull 

(  ears,  whose  languid  attention  needed  to  be  stimulated,  or 

/'  that  the  words  were  too  great  to.  be  easily  believed,  or  too 

unwelcome  to  be  swifdy  accepted.      So  it  is  a  solemn  warn- 

'  ing  against  prejudice,  apathy,  and  sloth ;  an  exhortation  to 

earnest  attention  and  sharp-eared  listening ;    an  appeal  to 

us  to  permit  no  indifference  to  come  between  us  and  His 

Word,  nor  to  stop  our  ears  with  the  clay  of  earthliness  and 

sin  against  His  gentle  but  authoritative  voice. 

Plainly,  the  course  of  our  thoughts  thus  far  leads  to  the 
conclusion  that,  since  Christ  is  a  Teacher  thus  authoritative, 
and  His  words  are  thus  certain  and  important,  our  attitude 
as  His  scholars  should  be  that  of  absolute  submission. 
That  which  it  is  degradation  to  give  to  a  man,  it  is  sin  to 
withhold  from  Christ.  When  men  speak  to  us,  we  have  the 
right  and  the  obligation  to  say,  "How  do  you  know ?  Why 
should  I  believe  you  ?  "  We  have  the  right  to  question  and 
to  disagree.  When  Christ  speaks,  the  only  fit  reply  is, 
"Speak,  Lord;  for  Thy  servant  heareth."  Much  is  uncertain. 


CHRIST'S   "VERILY,   VERILY."  20I 

On  this  voice  we  may  abiolutely  rely.  None  other  is 
authoritative.  Let  us,  then,  silence  all  other  voices,  and  let 
Him  speak.  Come  to  Christ  for  yourself,  and  for  yourself 
hearken  to,  and  take  from  Him  at  first-hand  what  He  has 
to  say  to  you.  Thinkers,  speculators,  books,  reviews, 
currents  of  opinion,  the  Zeitgeist,  and  the  like,  are  poor 
substitutes  for  the  supreme  authority  of  the  one  Teacher, 
the  Teacher  of  all  truth,  the  Teacher  for  all  generations. 
U  Do  not  take  your  conceptions  of  Him  and  His  words  at 
|]  second-hand.  Do  not  let  your  own  wishes,  or  sentiments, 
or  thinkings  shape  your  creed.  Listen  to  Jesus  Christ,  and 
what  He  says  do  you  take  into  your  inmost  heart,  and  on  it 
build  all  your  beliefs. 

The  absolute  certitude  of  His  message  has  for  its  corre-^ 
sponding  altitude  our  unwavering  steadfastness.  It  seems' 
to  be  thought  a  mark  of  "  advanced  Christianity  "  that  we 
should  not  be  sure  as  to  any  of  its  doctrines,  but  hold  them 
all  provisionally — as  if  such  an  attitude  were  possible. 
Provisional  belief  is  practical  unbelief.  I  do  not  wish  any 
man  to  say,  ''  I  am  sure,"  when  he  is  not.  Premature  cer- 
tainty ends  in  too  late  doubt.  But  whilst  there  will  always 
be  for  us,  in  our  beliefs,  based  on  Christ's  self-revelation,  a 
circumference  or  horizon  of  darkness,  there  would  be  no 
circumference  unless  there  were  a  centre,  and  no  conscious- 
ness of  the  dark  rim  unless  the  centre  were  light.  There 
will  always  be  much  about  which  we  shall  be  wisest  to  say, 
"  The  Lord  hath  not  showed  it  unto  me."  But  that  should 
not  hinder  us  from  firmly  grasping  the  grand  certainties, 
which  we  can  without  presumption  affirm,  and  cannot 
without  presumption  deny,  since  Jesus  has  sealed  them 
with  His  own  attesting  word.  Let  us  not  falter  in  adding 
our  voices  to  the  chorus  of  believers  who  take  up  the  old 


202  CHRIST  S   "VERILY,  VERILY. 

triumphant  words,  "We  know  that  the  Son  of  God  is 
come,  and  hath  given  us  an  understanding  that  we  may 
know  Him  that  is  true."  When  Jesus  speaks  His  "Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,"  let  us  add  our  "  Amen"  of  accept- 
ance to  His  "  Verily  "  of  assurance.  Let  us  respond  to  His 
faithfulness  with  our  faith,  and  build  rock  on  the  rock,  and, 
turning  to  that  gentle  and  infallible  Teacher,  the  incarnate 
Truth,  as  our  refuge  from  the  jangle  of  controversies  and 
the  strife  of  tongues,  let  us  humbly  and  resolvedly  say  to 
Him,  "  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  ?  Thou  hast  the  words 
,  of  eternal  life." 

I 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Spring  Holiday  in  Italy.      1863.     Palmer  and  Howe. 

Sermons  preached  in  Manchester.  First  Series,  printed 
December,  1863  (Crown  8vo)  ;  Second  Series,  1865 
(Fcap.  8vo)  ;  Third  Series,  1869.  Reprinted  187 1,  1874, 
1875,  1877,  1879,  i88r,  1883,  1887.     Macmillan  and  Co. 

Week-day  Evening  Addresses.    1877.    Macmillan  and  Co. 

Secret  of  Power,  and  other  Sermons.  1882.  Macmillan 
and  Co. 

Life  of  David  as  rfflected  in  his  Psalms.  1880.  Hodder 
and  Stoughton. 

Colossians  and  Philemon  {Expositor's  Bible).  1887, 
1888.     Hodder  and  Stoughton. 

A  Year's  Ministry.    1884.    Christian  Commonwealth  Co. 

Christ  in  the  Heart.    1886.  Christian  Commonwealth  Co. 

The  Unchanging  Christ.  1889.  Alexander  and  Shep- 
heard. 

The  Holy  of  Holies.     1890.     Alexander  and  Shepheard. 

The  God  of  the  Amen.    1891.    Alexander  and  Shepheard. 

JVotes  on  International  Sunday  School  lessons.  American 
Sunday  School  Times,  1887-91. 


LONDON  :    TRINTED    BV    WILLIAM    CLOWES   AND   SONS,    LIMITED, 
STAMFORD   STREET   AND   CHARING  <:K0SS. 


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